Defiance
by Vital Calamity
Summary: Defiance. The one thing that summed up Jaune Arc more than anything else. The aspect of his personality that stood out the most. The only thing that's kept him alive till this point – because once you Defy Death, you Defy everything. But some things... They were not meant to be Defied. (AU)
1. Mission Failure

My first foray into the RWBY archive. My first story in quite a long while. Some of the best writing I've ever done.

Send me some prayers, guys.

I'll need them for where I plan on taking this.

* * *

 **DEFIANCE**

 ** _Chapter 1:  
Mission Failure_**

 _Do not go gentle into that good night,  
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;  
Rage, rage against the dying of the light._

 _Though wise men at their end know dark is right,_  
 _Because their words had forked no lightning they_  
 _Do not go gentle into that good night._

 _Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright_  
 _Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,_  
 _Rage, rage against the dying of the light._

 _Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,_  
 _And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,_  
 _Do not go gentle into that good night._

 _Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight_  
 _Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,_  
 _Rage, rage against the dying of the light._

 _And you, my father, there on the sad height,_  
 _Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray._  
 _Do not go gentle into that good night._  
 _Rage, rage against the dying of the light._

 _Dylan Thomas_

"ETA in one." The auto-pilots artificial voice rang through the Bullhead's hold. I closed the old poem and stood with a sigh and a stretch.

Static greeted me for a brief moment as the communications system in my helmet flickered to life, before being replaced by the voice of the person who put me up to this.

"Are you there, Dawn?" I grunted in affirmation, moving over to the hatch's release switch and smacking the lever. Wind immediately began to rush into the Bullhead, the hatch sliding open. "Speak, please. It's not good to get into the habit of responding in grunts and growls."

Completely ignoring what had been said, I grimaced and grabbed hold of the handle hanging from the ceiling. The scenery outside was quite breathtaking – as in, the roaring of wind was trying to steal whatever breaths I could get. The clouds passed below me sedately, a beautiful puffy white.

Finally, after a few seconds of taking in the sight, I responded.

"Yes Ozpin, I'm here."

"Ah, splendid," Came the response. "You're thirty seconds from the drop point. Do you remember the mission parameters, Dawn?" I sighed again.

"Figure out what's birthing the Grimm here and destroy it. Everything else is a secondary objective." On the wall beside me, a red timer appeared with a single red light shining brightly above it.

 _00:22_

 _00:21_

Time was ticking away.

"Correct. Identify the beast before engagement; we need to know what can birth these creatures so easily. Wipe the horde after, then make your way to the pick-up point." Ozpin said.

 _00:15_

"I know, Ozpin. You briefed me multiple times." I said, and with a few quick glances, assessed the state of my gear.

The matte black armored suit I'd been given for this mission seemed to be in perfect order. A simple press of a button had the web like membrane pop out and connect my limbs to my body. A few glances proved the wingsuit to be in perfect order as well. Triggering another button shot a small bit of energy out of the multiple thrusters arrayed around the suit. The metal plates reflected most of the ambient light, seemingly distorting and directing it away from my body. .50 Caliber BMG ammunition was strapped onto two belts that went from my right shoulder to my left hip. The helmet that I wore was no doubt giving me the same information, but I had the visor lifted.

Everything was working perfectly. I smiled lightly; it was always annoying when someone messed up something I would be wearing into combat. My weapons were already in working order, I knew. I had checked them over right after I'd gotten on the Bullhead.

 _00:09_

"Just making sure." Ozpin's sounded mirthful. His next words were not. "Be careful down there, Dawn."

 _00:05_

I grinned "I'm going to be reckless as all hell just because you said that, you know that, right?"

 _00:02_

I could tell he had a smile on his face, no matter how small it may be. "Just be careful, Jaune."

I only had time to grunt, as the next moment, the timer hit zero, the light turned green and my mission officially started.

So, knowing that it was time for the action to begin, I slapped my visor down, pumped my legs with aura, and threw myself from the back of the Bullhead into the cloudy sky.

Why was I doing this again, exactly?

Oh, right. Because there was no one else there to take the job.

My name is Jaune Arc – I hunt Legends. Those titanic Grimm that rule the world and can destroy Kingdoms with hardly any effort. The horrors that draw armies of Grimm to them merely by _existing._ The beasts that parents talk about to their children to make them go to sleep at night. The quite literal Boogeymen of all of Remnant.

Why?

Because, by force of habit, I defy _everything._

And if everything includes a monster that can shatter continents with its power?

So be it.

* * *

By the time I had passed through the cloud barrier I was already going well over the speed of sound. Normally it was an impossible feat, but by angling yourself _just_ right and using Aura to decrease wind resistance, it was trivial.

Briefly taking a moment to orient myself like a wooden plank, I snapped my arms and legs out to unfurl the wingsuit while simultaneously activating the thrusters at full power.

The resulting backlash of going from over eleven-hundred miles per hour to a little under two-fifty would have been a major cause for concern had I been anyone but myself. But, seeing as I _was_ myself, the Aura that was constantly circulating through my body had me barely feeling the effects.

All in all, I only felt a little nausea where others would have blacked out from something like internal bleeding because their organs violently shifted.

Below me lay an enormous island. Most of it was covered in a vast forest; the trees towered over the world, hundreds of feet high and half as wide. To my left was a vast mountain range laying in the islands center, the forest surrounding it on all sides and trying valiantly to climb its steep slopes. There seemed to be a large patch of deforested land right at the base of the tallest mountain – it was crawling with the darkness of Grimm. To my right lay the large ocean that separated this island from the rest of the world.

From the rest of humanity.

I was only a fifteen-hundred feet above the rest of the world and would be hitting ground quickly – as in, I was going to touch down in _seconds_ – so I decided on a landing position as quickly as possible and tried to not fuck up.

And, of course, I fucked up spectacularly.

I missed the clearing I was aiming for by half a mile and apparently didn't have any juice left in my thrusters.

"Fuck me," I muttered – just in time to plow a great wide trench into one of the many trees surrounding the area.

Slowly and carefully, I pulled my head from where it had gotten stuck inside the wood. Glancing up from where I was – about thirty-five feet within the trunk – I grimaced.

 _Great_ , I thought to myself. _Now I'll have to dig myself out from this damned thing_. So, with great annoyance and a glance at my Aura levels, – _still at 97%, so far so good_ – I reinforced my arms and hands and began to carve my way out.

A few minutes later I managed to fully pull myself out and drop down onto one of the trunks large – and I mean _large,_ they were probably as wide as a Bullhead – roots. Blinking a few times, I finally realized that my helmet had been damaged in the fall. There was a large portion of the visor missing.

I scowled as I pulled the device off of my head and fished the communicator from inside. Finally prying the earpiece loose, I slipped it on.

"Ozpin, you there?" I asked, touching the device with a finger to activate it. Static greeted me. "Shit." I gave it a little while, but after a minute of static, I gave up.

With a sigh I tapped the earpiece five times.

' _Aura at 96%.'_ A quiet robotic voice answered. I grinned, glad that the function still worked. Giving it a triple tap with three of my fingers activated another function – the one that, admittedly, I like the most.

Music began to play from the small headset, the light and airy sound of a piano and violin.

Lowering my hand, I cast a quick look to gain my bearings and set off at a brisk run towards the mountains and the last known area of the mystery Grimm.

While moving I went over everything I knew. This island was the home of a lab of sorts that was run by the Atlas military.

A week ago the entire place went quiet.

So, with the guys who knew about this place freaking out, Ironwood had been quick to send a team to check the place out.

The report that was sent back was horrifyingly expected. The entire are that once held the lab was _gone._ Completely and utterly eradicated from the face of the earth. No rubble, no debris, no bodies.

No proof that the site ever existed.

Ironwood immediately called for the team to evacuate the island, stressing that they get back onto their airship and get the fuck out of there.

He got the blurry video of some human shaped monster with a single word attached instead:

 _Help._

Sadly enough, _I_ was the help. And I was four days too late to help anyone.

* * *

I leapt from overly large root to overly large root, keeping track of how close I was getting to the mountains the entire time. Going my current course would lead me to running into the Grimm filled area soon – the place where the lab once stood.

After only a couple of more leaps I ran into my first opposition. I crouched upon the next root I landed on and took a few moments to survey the area. A large pack of Grimm was moving through the forest in front of me.

Ten feet tall and fifteen long, Kitsune's were an intimidating sight. Predominantly black in color with small white bone plates in strategic areas, they were highly lethal. Their fox like features, razor sharp teeth, and claws that could cut steel would have been enough. Problem was, they also have nine diamond hard tails that can extend up to forty feet.

They could also breathe fire.

And there was thirty of them. Joy. I didn't like fighting Kitsune's. The only real way to deal with them was through overwhelming power or great knowledge of their weak points. I could do overwhelming firepower (it was what I was best at), but it would most probably drain my Aura reserves more than I wished.

I'd just decided to take a breather and wait for them to pass – but suddenly, they all locked into place and turned to face my direction.

 _ALRIGHT, HOW IN THE FUCK-_

I cut my train of thought and leaped up, going fifty feet high in a moment. Reaching out, I managed to grab ahold of a jutting piece of the tree's trunk and glanced down in time to catch the tree root I was on _utterly cease to exist._ I grimaced.

Alright, they wanted to play? I can play.

See, one thing that people never really seem to notice is that you can do a _lot_ with Aura. You don't need to have a Semblance for super strength to tear down a brick wall, or a speed Semblance to move quickly.

All you really needed was good Aura control. And I had damn good Aura control.

That in mind, Aura coated my fist and I pushed off from the tree trunk.

I went from zero to terminal velocity in an instant, slamming into the ground near the middle of the Kitsune pack. My fist was planted into the solid ground up to my elbow. I could feel a grin stretch across my face as I released the Aura around my hand.

The earth exploded.

… Well, not really. The ground around me shone for a brief moment – the only sign that my aura was traveling through it – and then cracked, shattering apart and erupting all at once. Dirt and rock went flying hundreds of feet into the air, the pack of foxlike monsters going with it with a multitude of yelps and roars.

I stood from the only undamaged surface and drew the blade that was sheathed at my waist.

Crocea Mors came out with the ever-so-slight sound of steel on steel. The beautiful silver sword reflected the dull sunlight that made it through the canopy and glowed like the moon would on a clear winter night.

I let out a pleasant sigh and shifted my grip. It's been a long while since I've taken Crocea into combat.

" _Too long."_

I grinned, looked above myself, found a target, and leapt from the ground.

The Kitsune had about, oh, a quarter of a second of so to look surprised before my ancestors blade pierced it's skull and rent its way through and into its chest cavity. My feet slammed into it a second later, carrying the newly made corpse and myself higher into the sky.

Twisting my head back – and _wow,_ the ground was suddenly pretty far away – I kicked off and flew towards another one of the canine like Grimm.

" _I wonder if you can take them all out before they hit the ground."_ A wizened voice taunted in my thoughts.

I just plunged my blade into another Kitsune as my answer – right past a small chink in the bone plating that covered the beasts 'heart'.

Even if I was better at overwhelming power, I still needed to save my Aura reserves. Thus stabbing them in their soft and squishy parts.

I jumped off of the Kitsune the same way that I did the first; by planting my feet and shoving off. I launched myself to the side this time, the corpse flying off and slamming into another foxlike Grimm hard enough to break its neck.

" _Four down."_ Crocea whispered as I sliced my next target in half with contemptuous ease. I landed on one of the trees feet first, slamming the ancient blade right below me to use as a perch.

With deft movements I grabbed the weapon that was magnetically clipped to my back, mecha-shifted it into its rifle form, pulled the charging handle, took aim, and fired a .50 caliber BMG round straight through three more of the Grimm.

Contra Esse was of my own creation and design. A horrifyingly powerful tool that could mecha-shift from a rifle into an overly large revolver that held eight shots – even if the recoil from one-handing it was a bitch to deal with. There were two blades to the top and bottom of the weapons muzzle that could shift together to be used as a gunblade as well.

It outer shell was made of black carbon nanotubes; the same silver metal that made up Crocea Mors being used as its inner workings. Lastly, its name was engraved on the side in glimmering gold.

I managed to take out three more Kitsune with two rounds before they reacted. Within the blink of an eye I'd extracted Crocea Mors, shifted Contra Esse into a pistol and fired straight down with an Aura infused shot.

The sheer _kick_ of the weapon had it almost smacking me in the face. And that was ignoring the fact that it had launched me a good sixty feet up, spinning like a top and allowing me to dodge the multitude of fire blasts that slammed home against the trees trunk.

Gaining my bearings and shooting a smirk towards the heavens while it flew through my vision, I shot Contra Esse into the air and launched myself right back down towards the still falling kitsune.

Landing blade first on one of the smaller ones – which also meant that it was higher in the air – I cut through its chest with my left hand while my right aimed and fired another round through one ones who was close to touching down.

The difference in momentum was too great, though, and instead of stalling us it sent us spinning. Using this to my advantage, I kicked off when an opportunity presented itself.

Allowing a trickle of Aura into Crocea Mors had the blade sharpen substantially – which I then used to lop off a Kitsune's head as I flew by.

Realizing that I was about to miss my target, I shot to the side and managed to catch myself right in the jaws of another Kitsune.

Literally. The Grimm pressed down on me instinctively with its _horribly fucking sharp teeth ow you fucker_ – and I barely maneuvered Contra Esse enough to blow its brains out. Dark Grimm matter splattered upon my face as I pulled myself from its jaw.

" _Aura at 88%"_ My communicator voiced out.

"Fuck off!" I growled back – just in time to be slammed from the side by another snarling beast. Its claws tried to rake their way down my chest, but I just batted them away with Crocea, spun a whole three-hundred and sixty degrees and pulled the trigger of Contra –

 _Click._

Fucker.

Still spinning I made a wild slash and managed to lop off one of the things hands. How close were we to the ground? Flowing Aura to my eyes whilst jamming my blade through the fox's throat, I managed to make out the details around me as I spun.

And goddamnit, did I miscalculate.

I slammed into the earth a moment later, crushing through the torn apart ground leaving a good sized crater.

" _Aura at 84-"_ The Kitsune I'd just killed slammed atop me. _"83%"_

"Crocea," I hissed out, throwing the Kitsune away. "Number count."

" _Fifteen down,"_ The blade whispered, sounding disappointed. _"You only got half while in the air."_

"Fuck you, Crocea." I stated, reloading Contra and blowing another Kitsune's head off. "It's sixteen now."

" _So it is."_

I flipped myself over and drug myself onto all four of my limbs. Shaking my head for a brief moment, I glanced up.

"Oh shit." I said.

" _Indeed."_ Crocea agreed.

"ROAR!" Said the Kitsune as they launched too-damned-many tails at me. Twelve times nine was a hundred and eight, right? Jesus.

Oh well, at least I could actually MOVE on the ground. So, that thought in mind, I launched myself straight towards the attacking Grimm and made sure to keep close to the ground and my weight centered.

I struck the middle-most grim like a round fired from Contra; In other words, I blew its fucking head off with my feet. Finishing with an impromptu backflip, I landed and took off towards the largest concentration of Kitsune and fired Contra towards the others.

Hearing the noise of air being displaced, I scrapped my current plan and dove towards the side. Rolling through the displaced soil and rock back to my feet, I heard the muffled sounds of tails implanting themselves into soft earth.

I wounded the closest foxlike Grimm with a round from Contra and finished it off with a swipe from Crocea. Ducking below the swipe thrown at me from another Kitsune, I stabbed its buddy right in the muzzle, batted it next swipe away and blew its head off.

Twenty down? I think that's twenty. Let's call it twenty.

Firing the last three rounds in Contra allowed me to take out two more and injure another. From then on, it was a game that I liked to call, 'Stabby, Stabby Fuck you'. How do you play it?

You stab everything to death. Simple.

I finished off the second to last Kitsune by giving it an unexpected lobotomy and sighed. Sheathing Crocea Mors allowed me to open Contra Esse and drop the spent casings. That done, I easily shoved one last round into the weapons chamber and flicked it closed.

Mecha-shifting the weapon back to its rifle form, I spun around, took a knee, and blew the retreating Kitsune's head off with barely any thought. I stood and began to reload the weapon again.

"That was sloppy." I stated, keeping my eyes on my surroundings as my hands went through the motions of reloading the rifle.

" _Aura at 80%"_ My communicator said. I sighed.

" _Do not feel so bad. The last time you fought them was months ago on your own terms."_ Crocea said, his voice sounding like the ringing of steel. I flinched.

"And I was still cocky, Crocea." I grumbled. "But alright, no need to give me a headache." I shoved the last individual round into the weapons cylinder. I only carried four spare speed loaders at a time, even with a pouch that was wider on the inside than the outside. When you have to use a speed loader meant for .50 cal ammunition, you tend to not carry many.

Releasing a low sigh, I holstered Contra Esse and loosed some Aura to my legs. With a slight grunt of exertion I launched myself up to the trees branches.

Time to go find the target.

* * *

I sat on a tree branch three-hundred feet away from the tree line.

It was basically a fucking mosh pit out there. Too many Grimm to count. So many that there wasn't even a single area that was left without Grimm.

Except for one area.

There, standing in the middle of the clearing stood a humanoid figure. Tall, maybe twelve feet a distinctly feminine. Its body was made up of the normal black and white Grimm motif, but there was an underlying color of green and blue that reminded me of the ocean. Black droplets of liquid dripped from her form, spawning a new horror every time one would hit the ground.

"Ozpin," I whispered worriedly, having finally managed to get through to the man. "It's… Ozpin, it's _Tiamat._ "

There was silence on the other end of the line.

"Ozpin," I muttered, staring at one of the strongest Grimm in existence. " _What the fuck do I do?"_ I could hear muffled shouting from the other end of the communicator, like the argument was happening a good distance from the device. After a few more seconds of my nerves continuously growing, the shouts quieted down to nothing.

And then Ozpin picked back up. "Jaune," He stated, voice quivering. "Is Confundis Mors still in working order?"

I shot a glance over my shoulder at the large hilt that poked over it. "Ozpin..." I trailed off. "Are you sure of this?"

"No." Ozpin said instantly, sounding like he'd just he was attempting to not sob. "Can you Defy her?"

I shook my head, knowing the man wouldn't see it. "Ozpin, looking at her isn't telling me "Fuck whatever you are, I don't care.", it's telling me _nothing._ Absolutely _. Nothing._ "

I could faintly hear Glynda's horrified whisper: "Ozpin…"

But Ozpin continued. "How bad is that, Jaune?"

My retort was instantaneous. "The last thing out of my league showed me _Death,_ Ozpin. Capital D death. The Entity itself. To not even see Death means that this _thing_ would do more than end my life."

There was silence. And then Glynda made her opinion shown.

" _Ozpin!_ " Her voice roared through the communicator. "Get him out of there! NOW!" I stood, prepared to hightail it to the Bullhead and get the hell off of this island.

And then I felt _pressure._

There was a small scuffle of noise through my comm, the sound of flesh meeting flesh, and Glynda was suddenly the one controlling the mic.

"Jaune, the extraction point is that initial clearing that you were meant to land in. The Bullhead will touch down in one minute, so get-"

"Glynda." My throat was dry, my voice hoarse. "Glynda, _she's looking at me._ "

There was silence. Not just over the line, either. No. The horde of Grimm ahead of me, the beasts that shouldn't be able to be so deathly silent, _didn't make a noise._ There was an army of white and black bodies with malevolent red eyes staring straight at me and they _made no sound._

And then there was _her._ Tiamat stared straight into my eyes, her ocean green orbs burning their way into my soul. They threatened to drag me under, to pull me beneath the waves and not let me out. They wanted to drown me and never let me reach the surface again. They were the deep, dark abyss that swallowed all light and _I was light. My soul was light. She wanted my soul. She wanted to consume me devour me neverletmeescapeforeverkeepmetrapped-_

My eyes bled as I tore them away from her gaze. I'd barely Defied her.

I never wanted to see those orbs again.

" _Jaune. Run."_ Glynda's voice whispered.

I turned on my heel and took off, weeping tears of blood the whole time.

The entire island erupted in noise.

* * *

I evaded a swipe from a Beowolf and didn't bother killing it.

What would be the point when thousands of other hoped to take its position? It'd probably be killed by something more determined to end me, anyway.

I'd only been running for only a dozen seconds and already I was having to deal with a swarm of Grimm. Beowolves, Boarbatusk's, Ursa, Kitsune and any other land based Grimm were hot on my heels. In the air flew Nevermore, Griffon's, Raiju and more.

Speaking of Raiju, I shot a burst of Aura through my legs and lunged ahead – the Grimm that were the closest to me being taken out by the large bolt of lightning. The large, cat like figure overhead roared in anger.

Behind all of them though was the one thing on this island that could kill me, though. Tiamat always seemed to be a set distance from me every time I glanced back. Always three-hundred feet. Never more, never less. Always watching, waiting to drown me in the ocean that she was.

I grimaced. It was never good to garner the attention of one of the Legendary Grimm.

Releasing a small cloud of Aura behind me, I ducked away from the tails of a Kitsune, pulled a Fire Dust Crystal from my pouch and threw it over my shoulder.

Fun fact: Dust will ignite if presented with a large enough source of Aura. So, chuck a crystal into a cloud of highly condensed Aura and it'll blow.

A firestorm erupted behind me, screams of the dying and already dead Grimm making their way into my ears. Hearing the clicking of some kind of insectoid had me draw Contra, and use it along with Aura to launch myself past the horrifying spider/lizard combination that was trying to flank me. Touching down again, I leapt and once more propelled myself with Contra Esse.

I continued like this for a time, continuously dodging anything that got close enough to harm me. Tiamat was always there, always the same _damned. Distance. Away._

Light shone through the trees ahead of me. Moments later I burst into the clearing from earlier, the Bullhead, _my only chance of escape,_ lay waiting for me.

But there was a goddamned army right on my ass and they were going to do their best to make sure I didn't leave this place alive.

But I've Defied Death before, and I was damn sure I could do it again. With that thought in mind I reached over my shoulder and grabbed the large hilt that rested there.

With a smooth pull I had Confundis Mors in my hand.

It was a great sword that stood taller than even I. It needed to collapse just for me to be able to carry it on my person. With a hilt that was a foot long and a blade of six and a half feet, seeing me wield it was, as someone had so well put it, "Fucking insane.". And they had good reason for saying that, seeing as the weapon would've been horrifically impossible to wield had it not been for Soul Magic Bullshit and its extremely light weight.

If you consider sixty-seven pounds light in any case. The thing was, I rarely used the weapon as a blade.

With the mechanical noise of gear's clicking and metal grinding, the Confundis Mors mecha-shifted into its alternate form. The first thing to emerge was a grip and trigger, swiftly followed by the rest of the goddamned thing.

It was a beauty to behold. Gleaming silver lined with gold, followed swiftly by a black metal that sucked in the light around it. Grimm silver, they called it. Created by scattering the dust of a freshly killed Grimm across silver during its manufacturing process.

It was hard. It was light. And it was a damn good conductor of Aura.

Sliding to a stop at the open hold of the Bullhead, I took a knee and pointed the newly formed barrel straight at the horde of Grimm that had just burst from the trees.

See, Confundis Mors alternate mode is an Aura cannon. The only one of its kind.

It takes a fuck load of Aura to fire the thing without killing yourself.

I have a fuck load of Aura. Hell, I could only pour half of my Aura into it safely – any more raised the chances of the weapon quite literally melting in my hands or creating a gravitational singularity. How? I don't know. There were limiters on the blade that kept me from pushing half of my Aura into it.

And there were ways past them. I flicked a few switches, dropped some blood on the device, and finally spoke.

"Confundis Mors, release limiters."

Something foreign slipped into my mind. Different than Crocea Mors, something defiant.

" _So, it's come to this…"_ I smiled.

"I'm sorry, Confundis. I promise to reforge you."

I took the silence that followed as permission. My Aura was sitting at seventy-nine percent after everything that had happened.

I dumped every last drop of it into the transformed great sword.

The cannon hummed, a brilliantly bright white light beginning to arch from it in larger and larger amounts. I could see it begin to smoke, a clear sign of the stress that was being put on its inner components. The area around the Bullhead became so bright that you could imagine that the Heavens were shining upon it.

" _Fully charged."_ Whispered Confundis Mors voice in my mind. He sounded expectant.

He sounded resigned.

But even still, I grinned.

"Come on, Confundis. I named you Defying Death for a reason."

I felt an agreement come from the sentient sword. The Grimm had gotten close, a tide of monstrous beings coming down on me like a tidal wave to drag me under.

Standing in the center of it all stood Tiamat. Exactly three-hundred feet away. The Queen of the Oceans. What was believed to be one of the very first Grimm. She was watching.

Waiting.

 _Expecting_.

I snarled and answered her expectations.

" _Fire."_

The world became light.

* * *

I drug myself onto the Bullhead. I was completely exhausted. Not enough energy. Not enough Aura. Not enough willpower to get the hell off of the floor.

Confundis was missing a full half of his body. Not destroyed. Not melted off or blown away.

Just gone.

I still expected him to come back to me in full, even if he was currently missing half of himself.

I did not name him Defying Death for fun.

Finally making it up the ramp of the Bullhead, I turned around to look outside and slumped against what was left of Confundis.

"Auto-pilot," I called out. "Get us out of here."

"Yes, sir." The robotic voice called back and I closed my eyes.

I'd made it. The horde had been utterly decimated by Confundis. The dust that was left of their bodies completely coated the clearing outside, completely erasing any color that was not a shade of black. Tiamat had left as well, hopefully with her curiosity sated-

" _ **NOT QUITE."**_

My eyes opened up in time to catch ocean green inhuman orbs staring into my own.

 _AndthenIwasbeingcrusheddrownedruptureddestroyedrebuiltshatteredrippedagonythisagonymakeitstopmakeitstopmakeitmakeitstopmakeitstopmakeit-_

Somewhere deep inside, in some vault that was locked beneath the waves that were currently erasing my existence, in some room that was permanently sealed off from the rest of the world, my soul _**roared.**_

My eyes opened wide and I could only see red. I blinked once, twice, and my vision slowly returned in my right eye; the left seeing nothing.

Standing in front of me, not ten feet away, stood Tiamat. Not the three-hundred she was always at before, but right at the edge of the airships ramp. Her previous height of twelve feet was now halved, standing at a simple six foot.

She looked human. Cloths that were in shades of black and white with accents of blue and green. Her inhuman eyes gave her away. They glowed brightly and, when locked on you, came with a horrifying sense of pressure. The kind of pressure that comes from being at the very depths of the ocean floor, surrounded by utter darkness and being crushed by the world's water.

The worst thing is that she looked like a female version of _me._

She smiled.

And then she spoke.

" _ **YOU ARE QUITE INTERESTING, DEFIANT ONE."**_

My mind felt like it was breaking and reforming with every word that she spoke. As if someone was hitting a window with a hammer constantly only to pick up the pieces and haphazardly reform it every time it shattered.

" _ **I SHALL ENJOY WATCHING YOU GROW."**_

The Bullhead had begun to raise its hatch and liftoff, the horrifyingly powerful entity in front of me disappearing ever so slowly.

" _ **LEAVE, KNOWING YOU HAVE GARNERED THE INTEREST OF TIAMAT."**_

The hatch closed and my mind finally shut down. Darkness rushed forwards to greet me, bringing with it music that was light and airy.

I met it with open arms.

* * *

AN: Welcome to Defiance.


	2. Illusions

AN: This entire chapter felt a bit weird to me. Eh, probably is.

...

 _ **Chapter 2:  
** **Illusions**_

I was in and out of consciousness quite a bit. I remember waking up on the Bullhead exactly once.

That was when it touched down at Beacon. I knew that because I'm _pretty_ sure that I heard Glynda gasp. Immediately afterwards I had slipped out of the land of the living and dropped back into Dreamland. Capital D dreamland.

See, Dreamland is quite a bit different from dreamland. In dreamland, everything that's happening is just your subconscious thoughts rising up in a large turning pot of absolute confusion. Or, at least, that's how I think normal dreams work.

Dreamland on the other hand is most certainly NOT your subconscious. It's your past. It's your future. Your Fate. Your Destiny.

It's everything in between and everything that is beyond.

I think. Hunters of significant power sometimes find themselves there, and someone had written that description about the place.

And do you know what it's not? Fun. It's not a fun place.

It'll show you your darkest memories and deepest fears. It'll show you your happiest moments and most cherished dreams. Lastly, it'll show you what life would be like without either.

Luckily, I was reliving my past.

It was a nice memory. A warm autumn day that my family and I had spent outside with each other.

Nothing more. And, as always, the music was light and airy.

… What? No. No, wait. There was no music this day. None at all. I remember this day perfectly. There was no music to be heard.

So why is it that I hear the keys of a piano, the strings of a harp, and the voice of a beautiful woman? I glanced up from where I lay upon a pile of leaves and noticed something instantly wrong.

Where was my family? Where was little Alice, whom at this moment should be on the tire swing? Jennifer, who would be having a conversation with my oldest sister May on the porch? Desiree, Alissa and Mickey who should be running around and playing tag? My last sister, Bianca, who was always reading on a lounge chair in this memory?

I pulled myself to my feet – the small, frail body of a child I was mere moments ago slipping away and allowing my seventeen year old form to stand up, completely armored and armed. I drew Crocea Mors as quietly as I could and glanced at everything.

The tree was no longer a cherry blossom tree. Standing in its spot was one of the towering, colossal trees from the island. Where my house once sat there was now a wide open space of green grass that stretched endlessly.

I glanced down at the lake where my parents had always been when I was inside of this dream. Neither of them were there. The dock that was once connected to the shore had disappeared and the lake seemed to extend into the distance, into the moonlight.

I heard a sound behind me, but when I turned around, all I could see were towering trees and a wide open clearing. It was exactly as it had been mere moments before-

The music got louder, and I pressed a palm against my left eye in pain.

No. No, that was wrong again. Those trees hadn't been there before. They'd just appeared without reason.

Something warm and wet made its way down my arm. I pulled my hand from my eye and looked down at it – only to realize that I was missing half of my vision and there was blood running down my entire forearm.

 _How?_ I glanced up again, abandoning the thought and taking a combat stance with Confundis Mors.

But wait, I'd been holding Crocea Mors just a moment ago–!

I was lying down, Aura spent and Confundis was a smoking heap of twisted metal and missing parts. The Bullhead was sitting right behind me, engines warm, ramp lowered and ready for takeoff. In the clearing before me lay the decimated and decaying corpses of the Grimm that Confundis had destroyed.

And there, in the center of all of that destruction was Tiamat. She stood there like a goddess of chaos who'd just stepped onto the earth and had caused a calamity by merely existing. A beautiful human girl of six feet tall with golden blonde hair and eyes that shone like–

The illusion collapsed. In its place stood the being _Tiamat_. Twelve feet tall, covered head to toe in white Grimm plate. The skin underneath was black, blue and green and likely harder than diamond. Her figure was undoubtedly feminine, curvaceous and horrendously, inhumanly beautiful.

" _ **SO, EVEN IN HERE I CANNOT AFFECT YOU."**_

I collapsed to my knees in anguish as her words rebounded around in my mind. I opened my one good eye – when had I closed it? – and saw her standing directly before me, not ten feet away.

" _ **MY WORDS DO SEEM TO CAUSE YOU DISPLEASURE, THOUGH."**_

My body yelled out in pain; my mind crumbled in agony; my soul screamed in torment and the music got _louder._

" _ **HOW VERY INTRIGUING."**_

I crumpled to the ground, lying on my side in torment and agony. Her words were like my Kryptonite. Times ten. Rounded to the nearest number – which just so happened to be _eternal fucking torment._

The music reached a tempo and volume that I thought was physically impossible and –

Suddenly, I was in a vault under the ocean again. I no longer ached, the pain having receded from my being. I pulled myself up from the floor, now able to see out of my _eyes._ Plural, not singular.

There were differences in this tomb, though.

The ocean was not as deep as before. Where before it had been pitch black outside of this prison, now it was… Well, still pitch black, but a little lighter, maybe? The large vault door that kept the water out was cracked _ever-so slightly_ and a small sheen of brilliant white liquid was coating the floor.

And, standing before me, was, well…

Me.

I stood there. Crocea Mors strapped to my waist, bandoliers across my chest, Confundis Mors and Contra Esse strapped to my back. My armor was gone, instead replaced by black cargo pants and brown boots, a dark grey shirt with a black vest thrown over top and a large black and gold jacket finishing it all off.

" _Are you merely going to stand there and accept this?"_ Other me said, sweeping an arm out to the side to showcase the water. His voice sounded like a whisper from far away; yet it was still able to be heard clearly. " _Merely sit back and hope that it stops?_ "

I – what? – NO way in HELL would I endure this more than I have to-

" _Then why are you doing NOTHING to stop it?!"_ My counterpart roared, looking at me in disgust.

"Well, what do you THINK I COULD DO!?" I blurted out. "That's fucking TIAMAT out there if you didn't notice! She'd crush me like a FUCKING BU-"

" _AND WHY SHOULD THAT MATTER?!"_ His voice had risen, no longer a whisper but a dull _roar_. _"WHEN HAVE YOU LET THAT STOP YOU BEFORE? WHERE IS THE YOUNG BOY WHO DEFIED DEATH? THE YOUNG MAN THAT KILLED SCYLLA WITH ONLY A SHIELD AND HIS WITS? THE ONLY HUMAN BEING TO FACE DOWN AN ARMY OF GRIMM PERSONALLY LEAD BY THE QUEEN OF THE SEAS AND GODDESS OF CHAOS?!"_

I was silent as he finished shouting and marched towards me.

" _I will tell you where he is."_ My clone whispered again, reaching out and pressing a finger against my chest. " _He is right here."_

With barely a push I was out of the vault and into the water, quickly drifting towards the surface. Something dark and cold and _wrong_ rushed by me and towards the vault. It impacted against the metal surface without a sound and raced to swallow it, to cover it whole.

In moments I was no longer able to see the small, golden room and was on my way up – even as a flash of bright light lit the water and a scream of pain from an inhuman throat sounded out.

Minutes passed and my thoughts were still quiet. Just as I began to panic, thinking that I would run out of air, I broke the surface.

…

My lone eye opened in a dark room. Instantly I began to look around to figure out my surroundings – years of training and more recent events making it entirely reactionary. The walls where white, I was on a shitty bed, and there was a IV drip hooked up to my arm.

Beacon's medical ward. Alrighty then. First thing to do is get this IV out of me. Then find my stuff. Then find Ozpin.

Yanking out the IV with one hand, I reached the other up to my face and patted the area around my eye. It was heavily bandaged and lightly soaked through with dried blood, which could only mean a few things, and all of them were bad.

Speaking of bad, Tiamat could get to me in the Dreamscape. Which was BAD. Emphasis on the every letter that was capitalized. I entered Dreamland more often than dreamland and, to be honest, I'd really rather fucking not see her again.

She was worse than Remnant's boogeyman. Hell, she could have been the boogeyman's psychotic mother. The boogeyman's psychotic mother who liked to feed orphans to other orphans and congratulated her children by way of merciless, ruthless murderizing as slowly as possible.

In other words, not something you want to run into. And she was interested in me.

My damaged eye pounded in sync with my headache and I drug myself from the bed. I pressed a hand against it and grabbed the pair of cloths that were sitting on the bedside table; slacks, shirt, boxers, socks, the normal stuff. There was a sheathed dagger laying beneath them, but I ignored it for now.

After donning the clothing I grabbed my boots from where they sat on the floor and pulled them up, using the time it took to lace them to think.

The mission was obviously a failure. Everyone who knew about it had been thinking that it was one of the lesser Legendaries – lesser meaning that it could only destroy a Kingdom, not a continent. Instead it was one of the Grimm that we believe came _first_.

She was one of the few whom we believed could destroy the _world._ Crush the entire earth like it was a goddamned pebble. And I just… I can't take _that._ No one yet. Maybe never.

But damnit, you can bet your ass that I'll fucking try to be the first.

I finished lacing my boots and stood again, looking around to see where the staff hid my weapons. Every time I woke in Beacons infirmary they would either be nearby in some out of the way corner or nook, or Glynda would take them for maintenance.

The dagger that still lay on the table was the only weapon in the room besides myself. Glynda had obviously taken them, bless the woman. I laced it through a belt loop and walked to the door.

Opening it led me to the actual infirmary – the one that Beacon's students were carted to for minor wounds or ailments. The room that I was in was one of the few actual hospital rooms that they had. The ones that were used for patients with severe and life threatening wounds to recover from in privacy.

I wasn't suffering from severe wounds.

Well, not physical ones, at least.

…

I checked one of the wall clocks as I made my way down Beacons hallways. 11:00 o' clock at night. I'd started the mission at one in the afternoon and had no idea when I finished it; which meant that I'd either been out for less than ten hours, or more than a day.

I really had only one way to check at my disposal. So, with a thought, I prodded my Aura with a mental finger –

It felt like I'd been engulfed in a hug. A really large, really warm and _really_ bright hug. I grimaced.

I was back at a hundred percent, which meant I was out of it for longer than a day. Damn. Glynda was going to kill me.

I shoved open the doors that led outside and began to make my way towards the CCT and Ozpin's office. He needed to be informed about everything that had happened.

It's not arrogance that lets me say that I'm strong. It's not even confidence that allows me to say it. It's just simple knowledge.

My Semblance was simple, really. Defiance. Classified as resistance or disobedience in the dictionary, but it was more than that.

It was the ability to disregard anything that was not my own Will. If I wanted to fly, all I had to do was Defy gravity. If I wanted to breathe underwater I would merely disregard the existence of hydrogen and simply breathe oxygen.

I could not die because I disregarded the very idea of Death.

It was not as wonderful of a power as some may think. It takes a great deal of Will to defy something. I've only Defied Death once, and even then I barely managed.

I still believe that I saw the Grimm Reaper pout that day.

That said, I tend to refrain from using it because of those limitations. Who knows when Death will sink his claws into me again? What if I had exhausted myself Defying something not long before that, and the Reaper gets me when my Will is not strong enough to tell him to fuck himself?

There are others things about it as well. Small things. I once defied the notion that my father was stronger than I during a spar – and in the next moment, my strength was far greater than his own. My Aura surged far past what it could have possibly been at that young age. My speed was that of a fully trained Huntsman for a brief time.

And then my muscles shredded apart, my bones snapped like twigs, the oxygen boiled in my blood and my Soul cried in agony. The worst part?

My father was _still a better fighter._ He had years of training, years of practice with his style and a technique that shrugged off everything that I threw at him. My fists that could destroy buildings were merely deflected, my speed was countered by his overwhelming experience and reaction time and my Aura was countered with his own.

The next time I awoke my arm had snapped when I tried to move it. I had to Defy the notion of being as powerful as I was just to be able to move.

Throughout the years I had managed to grow stronger than most Hunters on the planet. The few that stood above me were monsters in their own right.

That's what Ozpin needed to know. Tiamat was out of my weight class, and I was a fucking _heavy_ son of a bitch compared to ninety-nine percent of the population.

The man needed to know that there wasn't much of a chance that anyone could harm her. My power made me Remnant's trump card. The person that was pulled out when all hope was lost. They would throw me at a problem and hope that I could tell it to kindly fuck off.

And when I couldn't do that, the plan was to throw _everyone_ at it and _pray_ that I could Defy it afterwards.

We haven't had to resort to that yet.

We'd hopefully never have to.

…

I arrived at the top of Ozpins wizard tower and was immediately greeted by the ticking of clocks and the grinding of gears.

The doors hadn't even opened yet. The moment they did though I took one step in, raised a hand, and was promptly given a hug that had more strength behind it than the kick of a Goliath.

"Don't," Glynda's quiet whisper was harsh. "Scare me like that again, do you understand me?" I could feel a smile work its way across my face as she began to run one of her hands through the hair sticking out from the bandage.

"Sorry Aunt Glynda," I whispered, hugging her back.

Glynda Goodwitch was my Aunt on my mother's side, the two being sisters. She was a good five inches taller than I was and had the same blonde hair and green eyes that about, oh, half of my family did. I'd moved into Vale a few years back and ever since she'd taken to fussing over me.

If one of her students ever saw her outside of her 'stern teacher' mode they'd probably have a heart attack.

Glynda released me from the hug ever so slowly, looking me in the eyes – eye, damnit – and nodded her head.

"You'd better be," She stated, glancing over her shoulder when someone cleared their throat. She looked back at me after a moment and gave a small smile before turning on her heel and walking towards the desk on the opposite side of the room.

I let my eyes roam as I walked towards the desk as well.

The room was overly large and mostly empty. The only things inside being a few pillars near the entrance to support the ceiling a large desk directly across from the elevator. The walls were made of the same material as the rest of the school. Marble maybe? I don't know my natural materials well.

The most prominent thing had to be the sheer amount of cogs and gears that could be seen. They were behind glass in the walls and ceiling, hundreds of different sizes that all moved together to do some unseen purpose.

The last thing in the room was Ozpin himself. Sitting behind his desk on a chair – made of more gears, by the way – and currently staring at some large hologram that was floating above the desks surface. He was a tall man, six-five or six-six. With unkempt silver hair and dark brown eyes and a small pair of tinted spectacles, he cut quite an imposing figure in his dark suit and green scarf.

"Ozpin," I greeted, walking up to the desk and putting my hand out. He smiled lightly as we shook.

"Jaune," He greeted, pulling his hand back. "How are you feeling?"

"Like my existence has been shredded in a blender." I didn't bother mincing my words and the man visibly flinched because of them.

I wasn't lying, either. Some part of me was still screaming in agony, crying out as if it someone was cutting a gash into me and then happily poured lemon juice into the wound and rubbed salt on it. But with every breath it dimmed just a bit, the agony slowly being brought down. It was the only reason I had gotten out of bed in the first place. I could feel the pain begin to ebb away with every breath I took, and I just _knew_ it would eventually disappear.

"How long have I been out?" I asked, watching as Ozpin seemingly contemplated the words.

"Six days," He answered at last, looking up. I cursed quietly. Looking up and following his gaze, I saw the shattered moon through the glass ceiling above us. "We were beginning to wonder if you had fallen into a coma."

I scowled at the moon.

"It's good that you are awake, though." Ozpin said, and when I re-directed my vision I found him staring at me solemnly. "All that we currently know of the situation is what was heard over the communicator and the footage from the Bullhead."

I swallowed. "What does the footage show?"

With a few deft taps on the desk a large video-feed appeared in the air. It was from the cockpit of the ship, facing out the open door and into the hold.

I watched, the video matching up perfectly with my memory. The only thing of note was when Tiamat appeared. It was sudden, as if she had always been standing there and you just hadn't noticed until that very moment. I shivered. If she could appear _anywhere…_

I didn't want to think about it. With a tap on the desk, Ozpin paused the video.

"What can you tell us about her?"

I hesitated. "She's _strong,_ Ozpin. Insanely so. Being in her presence is like being crushed by the weight of the entire ocean." Ozpins expression had turned grim. "You saw what happened when I locked eyes with her."

He'd grabbed his mug of coffee at some point, holding the handle in a white knuckled grip. I was amazed the porcelain didn't shatter. He looked old, older than he already was – and Ozpin _was_ old. Potentially the oldest human currently living.

We remained in silence for a long minute.

"It doesn't matter." He said finally, looking up from where he had been studying his coffee. "She has never bothered us before. She has no reason to now."

I just shook my head.

"She's taken an interest in me, Oz." I said. "She said so herself. She visited me in the Dreamscape. I don't think she's just going to leave me be."

Glynda and Ozpin's faces were deathly pale. Ozpin's mug slipped from his limp fingers and shattered across the floor and my aunt had a hand covering her mouth in horror.

Other than the clicks of gears turning, there was silence.

"Jaune," Ozpin whispered in sorrow. "I am so sorry. So, _so_ sorry."

"It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault." I sighed and shook my head. "Let's look on the bright side: she doesn't seem to want me dead."

"You have the attention of one of the first Grimm." Glynda hissed at me.

"The bright side, Aunt Glyn. You're looking at the wrong side."

She went from sickly pale to red with anger rather quickly. Ozpin watched us interacting with a small smile on his face, even if I could see the turmoil hidden beyond his brown orbs. I quickly changed the topic of conversation as Glynda looked like she was about to wring my neck.

I have _some_ self-preservation instincts, even being as Defiant as I am.

"So, my gear?" Glynda was the one who answered me, even as she glared into my single visible eye.

"In your room," She ground out, still displeased with my earlier comment. "Crocea Mors and Contra Esse are in perfect condition. Confundis Mors is substantially damaged, as you no doubt expect."

I nodded. "He'll be fine. He's named that for a reason."

"Do you remember how to re-create the blade?" Ozpin asked, now staring down at the mess his coffee cup had made on the floor. I opened my mouth to affirm him that yes, I did, but something else came out.

"Shit." The word slipped out as I realized that I'd forgotten a few key aspects about the blades design in the year or so since its creation. I locked gazes with Beacon's headmaster. "Remember where the blueprints are?"

He held my gaze as he tapped his desk decisively, a large image being projected into the air. Glancing up at it, I found that it was all the designs that I'd drawn for Confundis Mors. "Oh."

"Yes," Ozpin stated, sounding highly amused. "Oh." I ginned at him.

"Thanks Oz. You're a lifesaver." He just waved it off.

"Jaune," Glynda said, changing the topic again. "How does your eye feel?" She was gazing intently at the wrapped portion of my face.

"Can't really tell," I answered, reaching a hand up to pat at the area. _Fuck,_ I thought when I patted a little too close to it. That stung. "Do I even still have it?"

Ozpin answered this time. "The one you've had since birth? No, it ruptured." I grimaced. "A new one that we managed to clone from what was left of your old one? Yes. I dare say that you can take those bandages off now, in fact."

I sighed, glad that I wouldn't be walking around with only one eye. Thank god for biological engineering. Although, I could grow up to become a pirate named Yellowbeard if I had only one eye…

Yeah, okay. Not worth the loss of sight. I pawed at the bandages for a few moments, trying to end that was clipped to – aha! Found it. Snapping the small clip holding the bandage together, I easily unwound it from my head and opened my new eye.

And then I flinched and closed it again. Even if it was pretty dark in Ozpins office at the moment, it was still too bright for my new eye. I had to ease it through the process, opening it just a crack at a time to let it get used to the low light. After a few minutes, though, I had it open.

"I feel high." I said, voice as deadpan as I could accomplish.

Glynda cocked her head to the side and Ozpin muttered a small, "Oh?". I nodded.

"Yeah. My eye isn't seeing color the same as the other and it makes me think I've been seeing color wrong my entire life."

It felt good to make them laugh. Even just a little bit.

…

AN: Rush-wrote this thing. Have _no idea_ what I'm currently doing. I tend to just have small ideas or scene's in mind when I write stories, everything in between them is spur of the moment and not planned at all. I'm flying by the seat of my pants and smashing into possible plot-lines the entire time. Joy.

Next chapter should be a bit of down time for Jaune, maybe some exposition and the re-creating of Confundis. We'll move onto… _Something_ after that. I'll know when I get there.


	3. Friendly Forge

AN: Sorry about the small wait. Had a few busy days.

...

 _ **Chapter 3:  
Friendly Forge**_

I'll admit, the moment I left Ozpin's office I was mentally chanting the word 'bed' over and over again. I may have woken up not an hour before, but I was still exhausted. Aura might be like some magical wonder-aid, but even it has limitations.

I stumbled into my room and sat down on my bed. There was something I was forgetting, but it could wait a bit.

The room wasn't actuallymine. It was Glynda's. A teacher's room held two bedrooms, and my aunt had let me take over the spare whenever I was at Beacon. It was a plain room, a bed, nightstand, dresser and desk all that were inside. I had a few spare changes of cloths here and that was all.

It wasn't a place I stayed in often. Only when I got back from missions too exhausted to leave, or whenever I had need of the school's forge.

I smirked a little. It was both this time around; I was dead tired and Confundis needed re-forged.

Thinking of Confundis jogged my memory and I remembered what I'd forgotten. All it took was a few quick glances around the room to find the objects.

Crocea Mors and Contra Esse were leaning against the rooms' nightstand, in perfect working order and shining like they were brand new. I smiled at that. It was undoubtedly Glynda whom had taken care of them.

The woman was far too affectionate at times. I walked over and grabbed Contra first, checking if it was loaded and, once I made sure that it was, I shifted it into its revolver form and placed it atop the nightstand within easy reach of the bed.

And then I picked up Crocea and drew the blade.

" _You alright lad?"_ The blade's conscious whispered.

"I'm just fine, Crocea. I got a new eye that I need to adjust to, but other than that, I'm perfectly alright." Except I wasn't. My Aura would pulse at random intervals and, with them, bring a whole bunch of different kinds of pain. Stinging, stabbing, aching and more. Every flavor of pain under the rainbow, condensed down to one man. The worst part is that it was my Aura that was in pain – the light of my soul given form was in _pain._

That's probably a bad thing. But, it hasn't stopped me yet, so oh well.

" _You're lying."_ Crocea whispered again. I just snorted.

"Damn straight." I said. "Now, I'mma sleep because, frankly, my everything hurts and I have a headache that could probably kill a man. Night."

I collapsed face first onto the pillow and brought the sword down with me. I could hear Crocea Mors give me a piece of his mind, but, to be honest, I was already half asleep and didn't care.

I was asleep instantly.

…

My wakeup call would've been rather nice. Glynda had asked the nurse that was going to check on me to bring some food. But, well, I pointed Contra Esse straight at the lovely nurses' head and nearly pulled the trigger while still asleep.

I still got breakfast in bed and was told that I was free to do whatever. So, that was nice.

The nurse looked like she wanted to cry because of fright the entire time, though. So, that wasn't so nice.

Still, breakfast in bed. Whoo… I feel terrible.

I sighed as I pulled myself out of bed and grabbed some cloths for a shower. As I was leaving the room I grabbed Crocea from his position on the floor – I'd thrown him there because he was berating me while I apologized to the nurse. Toning out the geezers banter, I moved into the in-suite bathroom and cranked the water to scalding.

A shower that left my skin red and raw later, I was dressed, armed, and moving towards the forge. I made sure to nab my Scroll before I left the room – It was lying on Glynda's coffee table for the past week or so. It's where I left it when I went on the mission.

Stepping out of the room, I took off at a casual pace.

Beacon was a big school. Like, college campus sized. The forge was pretty far from where Glynda's room was – about a ten minute walk and located near the edge of the school grounds. It had to be located away from the main school; some students liked to test out new projects and, after the old forge located in one of the school's wings caught fire, they moved it further away as a precaution.

Swiping my Scroll across the forge's locked door had it popping open wide enough for me to get my fingers in and pull it open. Letting the door close behind me, I had to smile.

I had the place to myself which, honestly, wasn't much of a shock considering that most of Beacon's students went home for the summer. Some were special cases and could stay behind, while others had asked – and gotten – permission to stay.

But, at the moment, I had to place to myself. I walked in and went towards the far back wall and smacked a portion of the steel wall that was located right above one of the places reloading benches. There was an immediate grinding of gears and, without fanfare, a portion of the wall slid away and had a palm reader attached.

I pressed my palm against it and was granted with a door sized portion of the wall sliding into the floor. I stepped through and frowned.

The next chamber was meant for the staff. Some students whose weapons needed special components were allowed in, but it was a rare thing to see one in here.

I was currently looking at a student, though. And she was holding onto Confundis Mors.

The moment my eyes landed on her she had stiffened like a board and slowly turned around, looking like a kid whose hand was caught in a cookie jar.

She stood around my height and was rather thin. Probably a year older than me, she had short dark brown hair and the same colored eyes. She wore a simple pair of jeans and a brown t-shirt – clothing you wouldn't care about losing if an accident occurred. A single lock of her hair was dyed the color of caramel.

"You managed to get permission to work in here, huh?" I asked, stalking – walking, I was walking – forwards.

"I – yeah. And, uh, you?" She stuttered slightly, eyes wide with disbelief.

"A Hunter who just came to fix his blade. You mind putting him down?" I asked, jabbing a finger at Confundis. She dropped it onto the table like it burned her.

Seeing Confundis no longer in this stranger's hand, I found myself calming and – oh. Oh. I… I was angry. I was angry and tense and didn't want _anyone_ to lay their hands on my friend. Blade, _whatever_. Point is, I was throwing all of those emotions into the air with a subconscious use of Aura and the girl was obviously terrified and I _hadn't known I was doing it._

Wow. Having something you made with your own hands gain sentience really did a number to you. Or something else had done a number to me. I don't know.

With a force of will I reeled back all the Aura in the air. No need to continue scaring her.

She gulped once and turned her back on the blade and looked at me fully.

"What–" She cleared her throat, narrowed her eyes, and the next words came out sounding angry. "What do you mean that you're a Hunter? You're younger than I am."

The sudden re-emergence of her spine had me smiling. "Good," I said, brushing past her and – ignoring her furious glare – inspected Confundis Mors. I turned to look at her after a moment. "When something scares you, fear won't help. But anger? Anger will. Keep that."

I would've laughed at her confused face if it wouldn't have been massively insulting.

"I'm going to hurt you." She stated coldly, righteous anger in her eyes.

I laughed. "Please feel free to try. You won't get very–" Her fist slammed into the palm of my hand. I smiled at her incredulous expression and applied _just_ enough pressure to keep from breaking the bones in her hand.

"I am not some self-titled Hunter, darling." I said, smiling down at her as she fell to her knees. "I'm legally one."

I released my grip and watched her cradle the limb to her chest. My smile had dropped.

"So, what were you doing in here?" I asked, turning back to continue my inspection of Confundis. "You're at most a year older than me. So, you should be a Second Year now. What beast did you make that allowed you into the teacher's forge?" I turned back to look at her.

I'd finished the inspection of Confundis Mors and… just, _oh boy._ He was missing damn near every vital component needed to make the cannon work and half of the ones that allowed him to mecha-shift. The worst thing missing was the White Dust crystal that was stored in the center of the blade.

White Dust was a damn rarity to find. And, because of that, it was ludicrously expensive. Buying another one would have thrown me into ridiculous debt if I didn't have funding from the Council's themselves for Confundis and _only_ Confundis. It was a weapon that could turn the tide of battle with but a shot – the Kingdom's wanted it in working order at _all_ times.

It currently wasn't and wouldn't be for another few days, at the _least_. Beacon didn't have any White Dust – no one but the Schnee Dust Company and the Atlas military's scientific division had it. So, I'd have to send a letter to the Council – probably piggyback it off of Ozpin's own report on Tiamat – and ask for a crystal.

That or ask Ironwood, but I'd rather deal with the Council than Ironwood ranting about how I should refrain from damaging such ludicrously expensive and necessary equipment.

"I have a minigun that turns into a hand-bag." The girl in front of me said, pointing towards the large multi barreled _behemoth_ sitting a little ways down the table. I blinked and turned my gaze back to her.

"I'm sorry," I sputtered. "But… _fucking what?"_

Her grin practically shouted the word _"Revenge!",_ but I was too busy being stupefied to give a damn as she walked down and hit a small, concealed button that turned the thing into a snazzy studded black handbag.

… I'm sorry, _what?_

"That," I said, gesturing needlessly at the _thing_. "Is some next-level bullshit right there. I would approve, but I'm still trying to figure out just fucking _how_ that works." She opened her mouth to answer and I cut her off. "I don't want to know, girly. I just… No. Maybe later. What's your name?"

I could tell that my sudden questioning threw her off.

"Coco," She said after a moment, grinning at me. "Coco Adel. You?"

I put my hand out for a hand-shake. "Jaune Arc."

We shook.

"So, what are _you_ in here for?" I just gestured towards Confundis.

"He took a little too much during a fight and needs fixed." She gave me a dull look.

"I can see that. Whatever hit it gave it one of the cleanest cuts I've ever seen. No sheared edges, no left over scrap, nothing. And considering the amount of components that were split, it's currently useless."

I grinned at her. Clean cut? Yeah, I guess you could call a gravitational singularity a clean cut – It would be wrong and wouldn't make sense, but you _could_ call it that. And sadly, Confundis _was_ useless at the moment.

I'd fix that, though.

"Yeah, he's useless at the moment, but give me a few hours and he'll be raring to go."

She smiled at me, all traces of her earlier fear and anger gone.

"Want some help?" She asked and I laughed.

"Why the fuck not?"

We got to work.

…

I swung Confundis around me in easy strokes, each one disturbing the air ever so slightly. Finishing a simple overhand swing, I stopped it from hitting the floor and shifted it into its cannon form. The transformation was quick and efficient – hell, it was faster than it was before!

Coco knew how to work with weapons, that was for sure. Thinking about the girl, she walked around the table separating us.

"How's it feel?" She asked as I shifted the cannon back to a blade.

"Perfect." I grinned, hitting the switch to bring the weapon back down to its smaller form. Nabbing a leather strap with a highly magnetic strip attached to it from the table, I managed to secure Confundis on my back once again. "You're damned good with weapons, you know that? I don't think I've ever met anyone better."

She just smiled at me, cheeks red from the heat of the fires we'd been working with till a few minutes ago. "I know. Bask in my presence." She said, planting her hands on her hips and jutting her chin out.

I just shook my head at her and pulled out my Scroll to check the time.

"Damn." I whistled, garnering her attention. "We've been in here for four hours."

The flash of pure panic on her face was utterly hilarious.

"Shit!" She shouted, grabbing her minigun handbag _thing_ and took off towards the door. "I gotta go! I'm meeting a friend in the city at noon, see you around!"

And then she was gone. I laughed out loud.

"First person my age I can call a friend?" I snorted. "Runs right out the door. Oh, boy. That's sad and funny at the same time."

I grabbed my things and went for the door. Confundis was as good as new – well, as good as I could currently make him, considering the fact that I don't have a White Dust crystal on hand.

Whatever. I needed to talk to Ozpin about getting one sent to me anyways.

My stomach rumbled as I walked out of the building and I sighed. Of course…

Right, then. Food first, then talk to Ozpin. I turned on a heel and started towards the cafeteria.

And then my Scroll beeped. I sighed. Pulling the device from my pocket, I only sighed harder.

 _I need to speak to you. Come to my office, please. – Ozpin._

I turned around and walked off. Right, then. Talk to Ozpin and then food.

Mother fucker.

…

The elevator doors opening coincided with the opening of my mouth.

"Please tell me it's important because I'm hungry and you're keeping me from _not_ being hungry." I said while walking in.

Ozpin was sitting behind his desk and shot me a grin. With one hand he beckoned me forwards while the other tapped away at the touchscreen that was his desk. I walked up and rested my elbows on the glass surface with a sigh.

"I need you to do something." Ozpin finally said after a few minutes of silence, looking up and meeting my eyes.

"Of course you do." I muttered, dragging a hand down my face and glaring at him. "What do you need?"

He smiled at me and pulled up a few files. The profiles of two people popped up on the screen, one boy and one girl.

"Two students coming to Beacon for the next semester. They're in one of the settlements a couple hundred miles from Vale at the moment and making their way here. I need you to go out, find them, and make sure they get here in one piece."

I didn't answer him and instead looked at the profiles on the two.

Nora Valkyrie was a red-headed girl with green eyes whom looked permanently cheerful and held an absolutely painful looking Warhammer in her grip.

Lie Ren on the other hand looked like someone I'd wind up friends with – calm and stoic. Black hair with a strip of pink and magenta colored eyes, his weapons of choice were a pair of smg's with foot long blades attached.

Hell, their appearances were strikingly different.

I figured that they were probably best friends.

"Why?" I finally asked Ozpin, glancing up at him.

"Students whom are from Vale's home continent are required to make the trip on foot. We do so to save from using Bullhead's and to give the students the time to get some practice in on whatever they run into while outside the Kingdom. A fulltime Hunter is to accompany them while they make the trip so that they safely make it here." He shrugged. "It's also a tradition."

I stared at him blankly, slowly watching as his façade slipped away and he started smiling. A few seconds more and he was laughing.

"It was also implemented so fulltime Hunters could have some time-off for an easy assignment that allowed them to have fun messing with the newbies." He managed to get out after he calmed down. I sighed and raised a hand.

Do I regret punching the most well-known Hunter on Remnant?

No. No I do not.

…

AN: Urgh. I wrote this in about… three hours or so. Yay.

Next chapter should be late Thursday.


	4. The Request

AN: I don't like the feel of this chapter. I like the beginning, but the rest just kinda went where it wanted to and it felt like pulling teeth at the end. I really want to be into this mission. And the bike? Me likey bike.

...

 _ **Chapter 4:  
** **The Request**_

"Ow," I heard Ozpin mutter from the floor, his chair having toppled over when I hit him. He sat up and rubbed his jaw, looking like I had just ruined his fun. Which, you know, I kinda did.

I placed a hand on my face and sighed.

"The real reason, please?" I asked, looking at him through my fingers. Ozpin didn't answer me for a moment; he just righted his chair and looked like a sullen child.

"I didn't lie about the first two reasons, just so you know." He finally said, his face clearing into professional blankness. "But there is more to the situation."

He tapped another icon on his desk and brought up a map of Vale's Continent. On it I could see the entire landmass; hell, I could even see the small island of Vytal in the north. Tapping a few more icons, Ozpin narrowed the image down to a small region near the southernmost portion of the continent.

"Of course you didn't lie about the first two reasons," I said, keeping my eyes on the changing map. "They're stupid enough that I could believe you implemented them."

It was a small valley hidden behind a circling of mountains. Some of Remnant's more nomadic population stayed there during the summer – the time when the frozen mountain passes would start to melt away and reveal the large spring that was located in the center of the valley. They would set up their home for the summer and, once autumn was nearly through, would pack up and move for warmer climates before winter blocked them in.

The funniest part was that it was actually called Hidden Valley Springs. Yeah. Real creative, whomever came up with that. Really, bravo.

I shook the through from my head and returned my gaze to Ozpin.

"I take it that these kids are a part of one of the tribes?" I asked, pointing towards the images of Nora and Ren that was still hovering off to the side. He nodded.

"Indeed. Ms. Valkyrie and Mr. Lie were orphaned at a young age by a Grimm excursion. Their tribe found them a few days afterwards and the rest is, as they say, history." He sighed and folded his hands before himself.

I just looked at him. None of this explained why he wanted _me_ to go get the two. Hell, I was still unable to tell if the color of his hair was silver or white for gods' sake. And when you factored in Confundis Mors inability to use its cannon, I dropped down the scale of 'Badass' like a rock thrown from a cliff.

Well, not really. I was still plenty strong, but Confundis was my answer to things that were bigger and stronger than I was. When the going got tough, a shot from Confundis was my first answer. My second answer was 'Hit it till it dies'.

My third answer was to run like The Road Runner from Looney Tunes and I'd briefly displayed that particular skill on the island.

"The reason I am sending you, however…" He sighed. "We recently got a report of a large pack of Beowolves attacking the Valley at night. They're coordinated. They're stronger than they have any right to be and they're _taking_ people."

At some point while Ozpin as speaking I'd found my hand gradually tensing more and more. I would have torn my nails into my hands if I didn't have a habit of nipping them of when they got too long. As it was, my knuckles were white and my teeth were grinding together.

"Lastly," Ozpin continued, either not caring or not noticing my agitation growing. Most likely the former. "Is this image."

And with those words, he tapped one more key and pulled up a single photo that had my blood burning red with rage. It was a simple picture, obviously taken with one of the older Scroll models. It was shot from a low angle during the bright daylight, pointed towards a small rock outcropping high above.

On it stood seven figures, each a monster in their own right. They stood in an arrowhead formation, the sides made up of wolves whose fur was darker than crude oil and were covered in grey –not white – bone like armor. If I could see their backs I would no doubt find a large, solid plate of grey to cover them. Each was over eight feet in height and their red eyes leaked energy of the same shade.

They were creatively named Greybacks.

It wasn't them who'd gotten me so angered. No, it was the one standing at the front, the ten foot monstrosity made to only **Rip** and **Tear**.

Fenrir stood at the forefront of his small team and gazed out to the Valley. Orange eyes that smoldered like embers and burned with the kind of intelligence that was a default among the Legendary Grimm, his own fur was darker than his minions, drawling in the light around him like the Abyss. Armored plates that were a dark enough shade of grey to appear nearly black covered his form. A towering eleven and a half feet tall, he stood above his own kind like a king among his servants.

And that's what he was to these Beowolves. Their king. Their ruler. The strongest of their kind to exist.

A monster among monsters.

The reason for my first death.

"Confundis isn't in working order." Were the first words I said to Ozpin.

"I know." He replied.

"By the time I can repair it those people will all die." I hissed.

"I know." He replied once again, same tone and everything.

"Then why the hell are you asking me to go instead of someone like Qrow? Glynda? Hell, call on Raven if you have to!" I wasn't trying to deny this mission out of fear, at least not fully. I knew I was afraid of Fenrir. He was the being that made me realize my own mortality. The monster that had ripped apart my first home. The goddamn boogeyman to me for so long that I still feared he would get me in the darkness.

The _thing_ that had ripped me limb from limb _so damn slowly_.

But, for the most part, I was denying this mission because I still believe that Fenrir was too strong for me to take down. I may have killed Scylla two years ago, and some people may claim that Fenrir was weaker than the six-headed Grimm, but I still clung to that terror from my childhood.

I still believed that I couldn't kill him.

Ozpin just sat in his chair quietly, watching my every movement. Waiting for me to calm down, even if I only calmed by a bit.

I sighed and dropped onto my ass on the floor, kicking a leg out and wrapping my arms around my other knee. I let my head drop and just… stared at the floor for a little bit.

"Why me, Ozpin?" I asked quietly, raising my head to look into his eyes.

I saw sadness.

"Because you need to get over this." He said just as quietly. "You're strong enough to take Fenrir down, even without Confundis Mors. You just don't see it. I fear that you'll never see past your emotions until you have to face them head on."

"… And if I can't take him down?"

His eyes hardened.

"Then you will die. Just as the mission from last week, there is no one else available to take the job at the moment. No one that could fight Fenrir, in any case. Qrow is busy – the Fall Maiden was attacked and injured." I shot to my feet at the news. Ozpin just waved a hand disarmingly. "She's fine. Shaken and dealing with a few broken bones, but ultimately fine. Qrow is bringing her to Beacon as we speak."

I let out a sigh at the news, glad that the girl was safe.

"The assailants?" I asked.

"No clue," Ozpin said. "Qrow's report said that they looked like normal bandits to Amber and himself, but no bandit could possibly harm her in such a way. Illusions, most likely."

I nodded my head at that. If one of the assailants had a Semblance that gave them illusory powers then the list of people was narrowed down massively. There were the problems with that line of thinking, though. First, we were running off of an assumption and second; it was difficult to tell when someone's Semblance gave them illusory powers. Most people with known Illusion Semblance's explicitly told others that it _was_ their Semblance. If they never had, they could potentially lie about it all the way to the grave.

I hated illusions. Tiamat came to mind – her illusions that she tried to force onto me while I was in the Dreamscape, to be precise. The bitch.

"Raven is… somewhere. To be honest, I don't truthfully know. None of us ever know." Ozpin said, looking tired suddenly. "And Glynda is too busy with the school and the Council to possibly go hunt Fenrir. And don't even ask me."

I smiled at that, ever so slightly.

"Don't put yourself down like that, Oz. You're an old bastard who can still kick ass, even with a bum leg." That was a lie. The man could walk perfectly fucking fine.

The problem with Ozpin wasn't that his leg was shot, no. It was that his leg was unable to utilize Aura correctly. It could flow through it and protect him, yes, but he couldn't control it any other way.

He couldn't fight with such a detriment – or, to put it more correctly, he couldn't fight _as well_ with such a shit leg. He was still one of the strongest Hunters alive, even with such an ailment. He never told me how it happened, either.

Ozpin still smiled at my words, though.

"So," I began, looking towards the floating holograms. "Get to the Hidden Valley, kill Fenrir and his Pack, get the kids and come back here?" He nodded. "I still don't have full access to Confundis, though."

"Those 'kids' are the same age as you." He pointed out and I shrugged. Bad habit, sue me. "And I believe that you can do this without the, as you so eloquently called it once, 'Aura beam of Face-Fuck'."

I smiled at the confidence he had in me. I did not smile at the fact that he cursed, no siree.

I fucking _beamed_ like a lunatic at that. Ozpin cursing was always amusing – especially since he did it so rarely.

"You still think I can do this, huh." I said. It wasn't a question.

"I _know_ you can. Now, go prepare. I don't want us losing any more innocents because we were wasting time."

I nodded and spun on my heel, striding towards the door with a sense of purpose borne from having a duty to fulfill.

"Oh, and Jaune?" I spun around in time to catch something that he'd tossed to me. Looking down at my palm revealed an old-fashioned pocket watch made from Grimm Silver. The school's emblem was engraved across the surface and on the back sat the symbol of my family. I popped the catch and gazed at the churning of gears on the inside, watching as the seconds ticked on and on. I looked back towards Ozpin in confusion.

He just smiled. "It was supposed to be a 'get well soon' gift, but I never got around to giving it to you. Take good care of it; I made it myself."

I smiled and dropped it into my pants pocket, hooking the small chain to one of my belt loops.

"Thank you." I said with feeling, smiling at the elderly man. He just waved me off.

"You're welcome." He said. "Now go. We've wasted enough time. Grab your gear, grab something to eat and leave as quickly as you can."

I nodded and once again turned towards the elevator.

Ozpin didn't say anything until I was inside and had pressed the button to take me down.

"Good luck." He called across the wide room, barely heard over the ticking of clocks and the grinding of gears. I shot him a two finger salute.

The doors slid closed.

…

I nabbed my gear in record time. All I needed was a change of clothing and some small necessities. Food, ammo, dust, spare clothing and medical supplies and I was sitting on a transport shuttle that was taking me to Vale.

My 'Huntsman outfit' as they called it was rather simple, to be honest. Huntsman and Woman were expected to have a set clothing design – it allowed civilians to pick them out from a crowd.

We were meant to be something _special._ Something that stood out for Grimm and people alike to tell apart. People were meant to see our clothing and our weapons and think "Oh, a Hunter, we're saved!" and Grimm were meant to think "Oh shit, a bright one.".

See, when your Aura is unlocked you become a beacon in a sea of candles. Your soul rises to the surface and becomes an extension of yourself. Because of that, because your soul is no longer bound beneath chains and walls, you are much easier for the Grimm to spot.

A Grimm will almost _always_ ignore a civilian for a Hunter.

Even with all of that, though, I still didn't look much like a Hunter. No fancy clothes or anything like that. The only reason people thought I _was_ one was because I was always armed to the teeth and wore armor.

It may have been that I almost always wore a simple pair of khaki pants and a black sweatshirt. My left arm was fully armored; a large metal grey pauldron on my shoulder and a bulky metal gauntlet of the same color I could use as a shield on my wrist. My right arm was lightly armored in comparison, simply covered in a small leather shoulder guard and vambrace.

My chest plate was a simple interlocking piece of plate and my shins were protected by greaves of the same grey metal as everything else.

People would usually not expect a guy in a sweatshirt and khakis to be a Hunter, but when he's carrying three weapons, a bunch of equipment and is armored?

They think that you're a Hunter. Or someone trying to act like one, but usually it's the former.

I felt the shuttle shudder and turned to look out the window.

Seemed as if I was in Vale. I unbuckled my seatbelt and turned to the opening door.

And then I blinked as my eyes settled on the girl I had met earlier today. She'd changed her getup, looking more like a fashionista than anything else – especially because she was wearing a beret. I would have observed the outfit, but I was in a bit of a rush and needed to get to my apartment. I spared a glance for the Faunus girl with bunny ears before tossing them a wave as I exited.

"Jaune?" Coco asked, tilting her sunglasses down. I nodded at her.

"Coca," I greeted. "And Coco's friend. I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm short on time and need to head off on a mission. Talk to you sometime soon."

Finishing that sentence and ignoring the rabbit girl that was about to speak, I funneled Aura to my legs and launched myself across the landing pad. Making it across the entire three-hundred feet of the plaza in a few moments, I launched myself onto the rooftops and kept pushing at full speed towards my apartment complex.

Finally, three minutes or so later, I landed on the roof of my building and leapt off into the neighboring parking lot. I dashed to the stairwell, knocked open the door and without even a glance threw myself over the railing to plummet to the bottom. I passed the ground floor quickly and continued.

Three floors or so from slamming the bottom I grabbed the lip of the staircase I'd just passed and let my momentum drag me forwards – my feet slammed into the closed door that was on the landing.

I burst out of the thrown open door, missed getting my feet under me, tripped and landed flat on my face.

"… Fuck!" I spat, standing up and rubbing my nose. I've taken that route down so many times and I've only once, _once_ landed on my goddamn feet.

I was going to practice that when this mission was over. Practice it and get it _right_ – because goddamn does it hurt to face plant, Aura or not.

I shook my head and made my way towards one of the many small garage doors located on this level. It was a personal parking garage; available to those with the money to pay for one, you could lock your vehicle behind a steel security gate and keep people from touching it, seeing it, stealing it, etc.

It wouldn't stop a Hunter or someone just plain determined enough to get in, but oh well. I'd probably murder anyone who tried. I pulled a small little steel key from one of my pouches, unlocked the door and lifted it up.

Inside was what I used my first couple of paychecks on. A damn nice looking Yamaha R6 in silver and grey.

A damn nice looking Yamaha R6 with off-road tires.

A damn nice looking Yamaha R6 that could mecha-shift into a fucking _dirtbike_ and _had machine guns attached._

Yes, I had spent my first two paychecks on a motorcycle that was meant for street-racing. Yes, I had used the other three to have the company make it able to shift into something meant for off road. Yes, I had patented the idea and was currently making a good deal of money from it.

No, I didn't regret a damned thing about any of it. I moved the bike out of the garage and quickly shut and locked it again. Donning the helmet that was sitting on the handlebar, I hit the clutch and turned the key.

She purred to life and I grinned under the helmet. I kicked the kick-stand out, shifted to first and took off up the ramps.

Finally making it out of the basement level onto the ground floor, I pulled up to the gate and waved at the guard on duty.

He flipped me off and hit the gate release, letting me out onto the streets of Vale.

…

A known fact is that there are plenty of exits in Vale. Small foot passes that were guarded, large one's meant for vehicles, the docks and more.

A lesser known fact is that there are a hell of a lot more exits than that. One's that were used only by Hunters heading on missions.

They were oft in secluded areas – one I knew of was located inside of a small clearing of trees that bordered the wall. Another, fifty feet off of the ground that required some ridiculously impeccable timing and was located behind a billboard. One more located inside of a field in the Agricultural District that dropped you into a tunnel that led beyond the wall and more.

The city was like that old legend of the Labyrinth – so many ways to get wherever and much of it was a death trap.

Each exit required the handprint and Scroll ID of a registered Hunter to use. So, as I slowed to a stop behind a large building containing farm equipment, I pressed my left palm against the wall directly above a small vertical slash in the concrete.

It took a moment, but after a brief period of time a small portion of the wall slid away to reveal a small scanner. I pulled my Scroll from my pocket then and set it against the scanner, patiently waiting for it to verify who I was.

A small click foretold the wall accepting that I was actually Jaune Arc and, after sliding my Scroll back into its pouch, a section of the wall slid apart to allow me entrance. Coasting my bike into the opening, I had to wonder about the apparent fascination with hidden walls. Beacon's forge had a few, and so did the walls of Vale.

Hell, there's probably hidden areas throughout Beacon as well…

Actually, it's Ozpin. Without a doubt there's secret rooms in Beacon. Has to be. The man is eccentric enough.

The wall behind me closed after I got the bike inside. I ignored it and continued to slowly coast along, the small blue lights in the passage being the only things that allowed me to see.

Up ahead was darkness though, and I knew I was almost out. A few seconds later, the front tire of the bike rolled past a small sensor on the wall and natural sunlight filled the tunnel as the wall before me slid away like the last.

I grinned under my helmet and hit the small switch that shifted the bike. I kept it stable as the seat depressed, the bike elongated and the chassis was brought a foot above the ground. Metal and carbon shifted and stored themselves… _somewhere_. I never understood mecha-shifting all that well. In the end, the large, streamline bike had compressed itself into a much thinner, more elongated form.

I laughed as I gunned the bike and took off out of the passage and into the bright light of day.

And then my laughter cut off into the words, "OH, WHAT THE FUCK–!" as I drove straight onto a Beowolf. Not into, not over, but _directly on top of._

The beast yelped and fully woke up from where it was taking a nap – directly in front of the tunnel exit, might I add – and found itself trapped under a bike weighing somewhere between a lot and a _fuck of a_ _lot_.

I blinked in surprise when I aimed Contra Esse at its head and pulled the trigger. I hadn't even consciously done the action, merely drew the weapon in its pistol form and shot the thing.

That was new. Nice, but nonetheless new.

Black dust blew into the air as my bike dropped a foot or three to the ground. Glancing around, I noticed that there was a small pack of Beowolves right in front of me – a small pack that had just woken up and blinked at me in confusion.

I sighed and holstered Contra Esse. With the flick of a switch two barrels extended from a small box between the handlebars – each loaded with 5.56 caliber NATO rounds. A lot of them.

I love whomever came up with the ability to store big things in small things.

The trigger pulled itself from the bikes left handlebar and, pointing the barrels towards the first Grimm, I pulled it without hesitation.

The first Beowolf on my right went up in a plume of dust, the one beside it falling next – and then the next, the one nearest to it, etc. I chased the stragglers next – literally, I gunned the bike and chased them, firing on them all the while.

Finally, after about a minute and eight-hundred or so smoking brass casings being left on the ground, I killed the last one and slowed to a stop. Turning around slowly, I took off at a good pace to find the nearest road.

I had my worst fear to face.

…

AN: Jaune needs to be there by nightfall, so hello motorcycle thing! I figured that he needed something other than a ship or his feet to get places, and my brother owns an R6. Also, did I make this seem like an escort mission? Yes? I lied. It's a search and destroy mission. Then it's an escort mission! Yay.

Also, apologies for the lack of action in… Every chapter that's not the first. Didn't mean to, it just happened. I threw in the little ending here because of that, even if it was shit.

Next chapter will be (more) exposition and character interaction, and _then_ action. Lots of it. Hope you like where this is going, because I'm just confused about what I'm doing.

Missed my intended deadline as well, so, shit. I'll keep trying for uploads ever two days; can't guarantee that I'll manage it, though.


	5. The Valley

AN: To the people who keep saying things about NATO: It was put there on purpose, not by accident. A small hint. Please have patience – the reason for it will come in time. 

…

 _ **Chapter 5:  
The Valley**_

My bike growled to a stop on the mountain pass, giving me a good look into the Hidden Valley. I was a few hundred feet above the area, the trail leading up its slope. It had taken most of the day to get here; the sun could be seen setting in the west, the sky aglow in beautiful hues of color. I pulled out the watch that Ozpin gave me and checked the time – 7:30.

Shoving it back into its new home – a small pocket inside of my chest plate – I looked out over the Valley and trickled some Aura into my eyes. After a few seconds of blurred vision, the world snapped back into clarity – and everything stood out much sharper than before.

It was, to put it simply, breathtaking. Trees as wide as a house stood tall against the test of time, their leaves in colors of greens and orange – the colors of early fall. Streams and rivers branched from the valley center, making small trails throughout the forest. I saw a few clearings settled around the area as well; though they barely stood out due to the diverse foliage provided by nature.

In the center of the small forest was the spring that this place was known for. It came from a small surface cavern – the flowing water reflecting the dying rays of the sun beautifully as they cascaded into a small lake.

In the trees nearby was the settlement; _literally_ in the trees. The homes were built high into the foliage, resting dozens of feet off of the ground. They were held on wooden platforms attached to the branches, connected together by bridges made of rope and wood. In a few places I could see homes practically built upon one-another; looking like a column made out of buildings. I could see some of the trees themselves had been partially carved out to provide housing as well.

It was quite the sight to see from a distance. People were moving about erratically, men and women alike carrying weapons and other necessities. Some kept shooting glances towards the retreating sun or the ascending moon, fear flittering across their faces. I could see even more moving towards a single direction, people who weren't able to fight obviously moving to a shelter of some kind that was out of my line of sight

I gripped the handlebars tightly, let the Aura drain from my eyes, and turned to make my way down the mountainside.

These were innocents, every single one of them. They most likely knew how to fight; living as they did made learning a necessity, but even then, few would fight well enough _._ They wouldn't have their Aura unlocked – it would just make them a target while they travelled through the wild.

Maybe a dozen or so people out of the hundreds would have Aura. Even less would have training.

It was pretty clear that the only advantage they held was height. But even then, these people should be dead by now; Beowolves could easily climb.

The only reason they were still alive had to be because Fenrir was toying with them. He was a beast that was content to play with its food – I knew that from experience. Happily bringing people deeper into the despair and fear that the Grimm love.

Fenrir was a savage monster, yes, but a monster that was _intelligent_. He attacked in the night – not with a horde, no, but with a _pack._ The Beowolves wouldn't blindly rush in like others would. They would move in groups, they would strategize and they would follow commands.

And then Fenrir and his Greybacks would slip in to rip and tear everything to shreds.

He was a monster – a terror that worked under the cover of darkness and killed everything in his way. We had little information on him, just like we had little knowledge of anything else concerning the Grimm.

To be honest, _I_ was probably the foremost expert on Fenrir – and that was only because I've survived him once before.

Actually, survived was the wrong word to use.

He killed me, after all.

…

By the time I'd gotten below the settlement, the sun was nearly gone and the moon was rising high. I tore my helmet off and stuck it on the handlebars. Pulling my Scroll from my pocket, I sent of a quick message to Ozpin that said two words: I'm here.

Killing the bike, I knocked the kickstand out and got off. Someone shouted from up above, and the next thing I knew, a rope ladder was thrown over the edge of one of the platforms and dropped down a few feet from me.

I looked up and saw a few people looking down at me. I just tossed them a wave, moved to the ladder, and began to climb.

It took me a minute or two to get to the top. Once at the lip, I grabbed the hand that was offered to me and allowed myself to be pulled the rest of the way. I was about to offer my thanks – I'd already opened my mouth – but the only word that came out when I saw who the person was "Huh."

"May I ask who you are and what you're doing here? It's currently not a good time to be visiting the Hidden Valley." Lie Ren said, looking at me with cautious eyes.

Just my luck. I smiled and held out a hand to shake. "Jaune Arc. I was sent to take care of Fenrir and get yourself and a Ms. Nora Valkyrie to Beacon."

His eyes roamed searchingly across my face for a moment, even as he reached out and shook my hand. "You're my age." Ren said, squeezing my hand tightly. Well, tightly for him, in any case. It was kind of normal to me.

"Yup," I replied. "I've been a Hunter for a year and a half now." We stopped shaking and I saw him flex his fingers from the corner of my eye. He was looking at me in open curiosity.

"You became a Hunter at the age of fifteen?" He asked. I nodded my head. "And you're going to fight a Legendary Grimm?"

I gave him a small grin. "The only other option was Ozpin himself, but there's a reason he has a cane." He just shook his head at that; seemingly from pure disbelief. "If it helps, I was the one who killed Scylla." I added.

He tensed up, his eyes shooting to mine when I said that, searching. I could see the way he read me like a book, taking in my stance, the turn of my lips and quirk of my brows. He inspected nearly every aspect of me in but a few moments and finally relaxed with an air of amazement.

"You're not lying." He stated softly, still giving me that look that said, _"Wow, holy fuck he's honest"_. The others were giving me looks of disbelief and shock.

I gestured to my waist, towards the sheathed form of Crocea Mors. "The sheath turns into a shield. I beat Scylla to death with the shield. It can no longer become a shield."

"What do you mean?" He asked curiously, the few people that had hung around leaning in closer as well. I shrugged.

Crocea Mors is an old weapon; the sheath is older. During my fight with Scylla, the shield finally gave way. I managed to recover all the necessary portions that allowed it to work as a sheath, but most of the inner components were lost – the components that let it shift into its alternate form. When I remade it, I remade it into a form that would see less combat. It became a simple home for Crocea, no longer having to deal with the horrors of a battlefield.

"It broke," I said, condensing everything down. "And I lost most of the parts. When I remade it, I could only pick one form; I chose the sheath. It was a veteran of the battlefield and it had lost a half of itself. I allowed it to finally have the rest it deserved."

Everyone nodded their heads at that, though only Ren looked like he understood. I smiled lightly and dropped a hand on Crocea's hilt.

" _Thank you."_ The old blade whispered somberly to me and I nodded. Crocea didn't need to thank me for that – and besides, fighting with a shield was never my strong suit.

I glanced up to see the light of the sun finally drifting away and tilted my head towards it. Ren, being the apparent marvel of catching meanings that he is, nodded in agreement.

"Michael," He said, turning to look at a man in his twenties with fox ears. "Take over here, I'm going to take Mr. Arc to see the chief."

The man nodded and began to round up the people around us, getting them back on watch duty. Ren just beckoned me to follow and, unhesitatingly, I did. We walked side by side, bobbing in and out of the way of others every once and a while

"You can just call me Jaune, you know. I _am_ the same age as you." I said after a minute, and he shot me a small smile at that.

"Thank you, Jaune." He said. "Do you mind if I'm a bit frank for a moment?"

I shook my head as we stepped onto one of the bridges. "Not at all; I actually appreciate it when people are fully honest." He nodded.

"I thought you would be arrogant." He said. I grinned. "After you announced that you were a full time Hunter I'd thought that it may have gotten to your head."

I laughed. "And I thought that you would be a compulsive liar because of your last name. I take that I'm wrong?" I joked and he joined me in laughing for a few moments.

"Not really," He said, smiling honestly. "Nora has done so many different things that my ability to lie has grown exponentially."

"I can understand that. I found myself covering for my sisters quite often when I was younger – and besides, lying's a pretty integral part of living."

Ren nodded his head. "Agreed."

We went silent after that and merely kept walking. The sun had finally set and night had come. Worry was starting to worm its way into my mind. It was too early for Fenrir to attack, I knew that. He would wait sometime for people to tire before making his assault.

It didn't stop the paranoia from forming, though.

We rounded a home and I finally caught sight of our destination.

The building was held _inside_ of a tree. Literally. It looked like a portion of the tree had been hacked away, a large circular building was slid inside the empty space instead. It was decorated in carvings and banners – no doubt telling the history of the Tribe.

"Mayor's Office?" I asked with a whistle, glancing at Ren. He shrugged.

"Town Hall. It's where the ones who can't fight are holed up – it's also where our leader is."

I nodded my head at that as we made our way over. There was quite a few people outside of the building, each one armed to the teeth. I turned my head back the way we came and saw others making their way to us.

Good. This was the place where everything of importance was – namely, the populace. Everyone should damn well be defending it.

Ren nodded to the people guarding the doors and slipped through. I followed immediately after, only to be hit by a _wall_ of noise. The building was full of people talking and, in some places, children screaming and crying. I rubbed an ear as I glanced around.

"Jesus." I muttered. Ren nodded.

"It's a bit hectic."

"A bit?" I asked, turning to look at him. "I don't think the word 'bit' is getting correct usage, Ren." He just shrugged and gestured for me to follow him. We slipped into the crowd, Ren maneuvering around people like a spectre – ducking between people, gliding around arguments and weaving away from everything else.

I, on the other hand, walked through like a goddamn truck and people pretty much just moved out of my way. There was no way I could do what Ren did – the differences between us like that of a club and a scalpel.

Finally making it across the room to one of the few doors, Ren opened it and beckoned me inside. I stepped around him and entered the room, my gaze instantly falling on the other person I was here to pick up.

Nora Valkyrie was sitting at a table in the center of the room, a large Warhammer resting in front of her that she was toying with. Her eyes shot up when the door opened, only to go wide with happiness as Ren walked in.

"Renny!" She shouted loudly, throwing herself over the table to get to the guy. Ren and I both took a step to the side and watched the girl fly into the room beyond, landing flat on her face on the floor.

"Don't mind her." Ren said, just as Nora popped up and shouted out "I'm okay!" I shook my head and laughed.

"Duly noted." I said, looking at the other occupant in the room. He was an older man, maybe in his mid-fifties. He was leaning over the same table that Nora had been at, gazing intently at a map. He had salt and pepper hair, bright brown eyes and a kindly face that was currently scrunched up in concentration. He was dressed in a pair of slacks with a white dress shirt. He glanced up once I walked over, and when his eyes caught mine, they shone with relief.

"Jaune Arc?" He asked, holding out a hand. I nodded in confusion as we shook. How'd he know my name? "My name's Tristian, Ozpin told me you would becoming. I'm glad to have someone as capable as yourself here to help."

What the hell had Ozpin told this man? No one really knew a thing about me. Everything I did was pretty much an off the records. The only things on my record were a few high ranked – if normal – missions.

And Scylla. Right. Ozpin probably told him I'd killed Scylla. I should probably never kill another six headed Legendary Grimm while in view of a civilian transport ship again, it brings a little too much publicity. It useful, though. People trusted you to be competent when you kill something like that.

"Glad to be here." I said, and the man smiled. I gestured towards the map on the table. "What were you looking at?"

"We're trying to pinpoint Fenrir's location." He said, waving me over. Nora and Ren began to talk by the door, but Tristian and I ignored them in favor of the map. "We've checked all three areas in the Valley that they could've been in and found them empty. All that leaves is the caves in the mountains, or outside of the Valley."

He tapped the two circled areas that were located in the mountains. One in the south, the other in the west.

"These two mountains hold cave systems large enough for a pack the size of Fenrir's," He said. "And I need you to check them out."

I cocked my head to the side at that. Undoubtedly, we would be attacked tonight and while I understand and _like_ the idea of taking down Fenrir during the day, it would be better to kill him now instead of later.

And then something clicked in my mind and I felt horror begin to stir in my gut.

"Tristian," I asked quickly. "Is the full moon tomorrow?" He looked at me for a moment and nodded his head.

"I thought you would have known, but yes, it is. I take it you know what that means?"

I didn't answer vocally. Instead, I punched the table and scowled as the wood broke.

No wonder Fenrir hadn't killed everyone. He was waiting – waiting for the one day of the month that his power grew exponentially. I should have seen this coming, the same thing happened the last time. The same thing that happened nearly everytime Fenrir popped up in the books. Was it much of a shock that he was using the same tactic now?

The more fear and despair that Grimm sensed, the more aggressive they became. The more aggressive they were, the less they would care for anything other than killing. Wounds would not matter, their lives wouldn't matter, nor would the enemies' strength.

If there was enough negative emotions in one area, Grimm wouldn't give a damn about anything other than mindless murder.

Fenrir knew that, without a doubt. That's why he'd been using scare tactics for the past few days. Get everyone terrified and afraid before killing them all on the night that he'd be at his strongest.

This monster was many things, and cautious, sadly, just so happened to be one of them. Fenrir knew he could be injured – my father had done a damn good job of showcasing that the last time – so he always made sure he would have access to his highest amount of strength.

"He's whipped the Grimm into a frenzy." Tristian said. "They've been relentless the past two days. Ruthless enough to tear one another to shreds if they could take a human life."

"And Fenrir's going to attack tomorrow at the peak of his power." I finished. God damnit, I had twenty-four hours to find and kill a Legendary Grimm; an unknown amount of time which would need to be spent defending these people. At least another four for sleep – I wanted him dead, but I knew that I would need rest if I wanted to stand a chance.

I threw my hesitance to the side. I had nine, maybe ten hours tomorrow to kill Fenrir. I couldn't afford to think about the 'How' and 'Can I?' of the situation. I either killed Fenrir, or these people died.

Simple.

"When's sunrise?" I asked, finally calming down. From the door I heard Ren speak up:

"Seven." I turned back and nodded to him. If I stayed awake throughout the night and slept the moment the sun rose, I would have nine hours maximum to find Fenrir. If I sleep until we're attacked I can raise that number by at least a bit. I turned to Tristian.

"How many of your people have their Aura unlocked?" I asked.

"Fifteen, excluding me. All of them have been trained." Huh. That was a better amount than I expected. "Everyone else is armed with Dust rounds and blades. They'll be able to damage normal Beowolves."

"The Greybacks?" I asked, wondering if I would be the only one capable of fighting them. Hopefully not.

Tristian was apparently a bearer of good news, though. "Our Aura users could probably triple-team them with minimal injuries." He said, nodding towards Ren and Nora. "Those two might be able to take one out by themselves, though." I smiled. I may be able to kill them quite easily, but having to focus on every Greyback tonight would be a pain in the ass. No doubt Fenrir would send dozens along with an army of normal Beewolves and Alpha's.

"Fantastic." I grinned. "Any other good news?" The tribe leader gave a smile at that. A weary smile, yes, but a smile nonetheless.

"My people should be able to handle the Alpha's." He said. "We've also got an alright stock of Dust, everything from fire to gravity."

I stiffened when he said that they had Gravity Dust. An alright stock? With Gravity Dust?

This man had the Schnee ideal of 'Alright'. I could feel a smile slowly start to pull itself across my face.

"How much gravity Dust did you say that you had again?"

…

I woke up with a blink, one hand already drawing Crocea Mors from his sheath. A few people glanced at me and instantly tensed up, turning to the platforms railing with their weapons raised.

" _Oh boy,"_ Crocea whispered. _"That's a lot of wolves."_ I grunted in agreement, dragging myself up from my spot against the wall. I began to pull the Aura back into from where it sat hovering in the air around us, the Aura below the platform a lost cause. Small wisps of white energy began to coalesce into my left hand, slowly slipping its way into my body.

It was an old sensory technique that Ozpin had taught me. You would slowly trickle Aura from yourself into the air like a fine mist. Seeing as Aura was an extension of your soul, you were able to feel it wherever it went.

And, as it so happened, you could feel if anything entered that Aura.

Finally nabbing the rest of the Aura from the air, I pulled a small length of chain from my pocket and began to speak.

"Alright people," I said loudly, garnering everyone's attention. "This right here is the Chain of Command. He who holds the Chain of Command, _is_ the chain of command."

And then I threw the chain at Tristian's – who was standing a little ways to my left, armed with a war axe/grenade launcher combo – face. He snatched it out of the air easily, yes, but it was the thought of hitting him that counted. He looked at me with grim amusement shining in his eyes.

"Tristian's, obviously, now the chain of command." I continued. "All orders come from him, and all requests made must go _up_ the chain of command. Which Tristian will decide. Right now." I underhanded a few single links to the older man and began to move towards the edge of the platform.

"What about you?" I heard Ren ask as I got to the edge. I turned back and looked at everyone, pulling a crystal of purple colored Dust from my pocket.

"I'll do what I always do in these situations," I said, holding the crystal out. "And say fuck the chain of command."

With those words, I slammed the crystal into my chest – right above my beating heart. It shattered apart in an instant, the shards easily slipping through my armor and shirt as if they hadn't been there. I felt my Aura reach out and guide the pieces, dragging them straight through the muscle and sinew of my chest and into my body.

The pain came a moment later. My muscles seized up, feeling as if each individual one had the world resting upon it. My veins went cold, like they'd been compressed so far that they were flat and blood was no longer pumping through. My bones felt like they were being crushed into powder, pressure beyond belief being piled upon them. My heart stilled for a brief moment, all the while feeling like it had been squeezed to the size of a quarter.

A blinding agony roared through my mind and soul for all of a millisecond – a millisecond too goddamned much, in my opinion. My Aura flashed outside of my skin briefly; a blinding white one moment before abruptly shifting to a dark, rich purple color that was crushing in its intensity.

And then I toppled over the railing, plummeting down to the forest floor hundreds of feet below.

… Or, you know, I would have – except I casually told gravity to fuck off and hovered in the air.

I flipped over, eyes locked onto the dark form that had its claws planted into the tree before me. Its soulless red eyes were staring at me blankly, as if asking the words, _"How in the hell?"_

I just smirked at it.

"Fall."

The Beowolf fell.

…

AN: Sorry for the delay. I fell ill and my head feels like an over-blown balloon. It makes writing a bit difficult, and I feel that it showed in this chapter. It just doesn't feel correct to me…

Oh well. The next few chapters will be mostly action, seeing as it's taken a backseat in the last few chapters. Next one should (hopefully) be out in two days.

See ya then.


	6. Gravity Games

AN: I've had a shitty couple of days. Here's chapter six – it's not the best, because I've felt like someone got me drunk and then hit me with a frying pan for the past couple of days.

 _ **Chapter 6:  
Gravity Games**_

…

The Beowolf slammed into the ground in the blink of an eye – five of its brothers who had been unlucky enough to be in its path going down with it. They made landfall with enough force to pulverize bones into powder. All six erupted into dust instantly, the spray shooting into the air like water from a fountain. The tree trunk had large furrows torn down it from where the Grimm's claws were hooked in, slicing the bark open.

There was silence for a long moment. I hovered backwards slightly and gazed into the forest, and red eyes and dark shapes gazed back.

And then the silence was filled with the sounds of the Beasts of Extinction.

A Beowolf leapt from the tree to get to me – only to go plunging down to the earth as I increased the gravity around it to send it there. The sound of gunfire followed a few moment afterwards, loud yelps and growls being the only sign that anyone managed to score a hit.

I utilized the control of gravity that I'd been given with as much precision as I possibly could. While I could end everything in one fell swoop, I was more likely to crush everyone and everything in a hundred meter radius rather than only the enemy. I could redirect it, causing everything to rotate around myself, but then I would have to worry about everyone who was standing just a few feet above me on the platform. Even with the knowledge that I couldn't go all out with this, knowing that I needed to show some restraint and trying my damnedest to focus as much as I could, I was still having problems with my control.

I tried to utilize the gravity to crush a Beowolf just enough to kill it, and instead compressed it into the shape of a soccer ball – that's how bad my control was.

Using Dust in this manner was not my strong suit. Hell, using Dust in this manner probably wasn't _anyone's_ strong suit. Implanting Dust into your own body is, as far as most people are concerned, a horribly stupid thing to do.

That was mostly because doing so tended to kill people who attempted it. Because they didn't actually understand what they were doing.

The saying of 'curiosity killed the cat' explained everything quite well. Another one was something Ozpin had said to me a little while back, about why he became Beacon's Headmaster – naivety killed the Hunter. The man wanted to send people off with the knowledge on how to survive, and that was why he took the job.

People trying to implant Dust into themselves didn't understand how to do it correctly, that was the main problem. It wasn't done by "Overpowering Nature's Wrath," as someone had once said it. You didn't just let the Dust into your body and say "No, we do what _I_ want," there was a little bit more to the process than just that. It was a factor, yes, but not the whole process.

Normally, everyone's Aura is aligned with something. It could be an element like fire or water – or it could be a concept like gravity and time. There are some who's Aura is tied to their thoughts and actions, like telekinesis or speed, and even more who's Aura was connected to their emotions, such as love or hatred.

There was a few of us, however, who didn't have a natural alignment. All of us had Aura of a pure white. Only a dozen or so Hunters, truth be told, had Aura unaligned to anything.

It was also why White Dust was so sought after – it was unaligned with anything, and capable of channeling anything. It was also as rare as a Hunter with an unaligned Aura, which sucked.

The thing was, this alignment was what caused problems for people trying to implant Dust into themselves – if you're Aura was aligned to fire and you tried to implant an Ice Dust crystal into yourself, you'd suffer from some serious problems.

If you survived, that is. People usually don't. People with unaligned Aura, though, don't need to worry about that. Use the Dust crystal, suffer through the agonizing pain, and voila! You can now throw around fireballs. You needed to make sure that you didn'tsuccumb to Nature's Wrath, to be sure, but that's generally easy enough.

For normal people though, the process is a hell of a lot harder. You would need to slowly remove the alignment from your Aura – a process that, as I've been told, really fucking sucks. I don't know how it's done, but Glynda told me that it feels like you're separating something essential from your soul for a brief while; only to replace it with something unfamiliar and alien. The Dust would eventually remove itself from your body and be replaced by your original alignment, and I was told that the process of that happening sucked even worse.

I'll probably never have to know.

I threw a hand out, grabbing a Beowolf that was about to drag itself over the railing and threw it towards one if its friends before ripping most of the gravity away from them, letting them sail out into the forest. They'd collide with something. Eventually.

I turned my eyes and thoughts back towards the fighting. The Gravity Dust in my system would run its course in twenty or so minutes with how I was using it.

Gunfire was still sounding through the night, the sound of people yelling and screaming following in its wake. A Dust crystal erupted somewhere behind me, lighting the darkness with a storm of fire.

The light thrown off let me get a rather close view of the Greyback that was trying to take my head off.

I shouted and let gravity drag me a dozen feet down, dropping below the Greyback. I spun in the air and watched the Grimm drop down, falling into the darkened forest below with a yelp.

I spun back to the tree and focused on the Beowolves I could see. I tempered my will with a thought and sent them soaring up the bark and into a wooden branch. They crashed into it and each other, erupting into clouds of black dust that was carried away by gravity and the wind. Within moments I had taken out well over fifteen of them, and the number was continuously ticking upwards.

When the number hit fifty-two, I had to stop as the branch snapped off, falling down to the earth. I drifted to the side, not bothering to watch as it took out a few more Wolves on the tree trunk. I wasn't able to use the gravity control for much – anything good I could think of involved wanton destruction and possible friendly fire.

I grabbed another Beowolf and crushed it, this time to the size of a soda can. The wind shifted behind me, and I jolted to the side just as another Greyback flew through the space I just occupied. Its jaws snapped shut where my head would have been, and I scowled. The Greyback slammed against the trunk, digging its claws into the bark roughly. It turned and looked back at me, a snarl ripping its way through the beasts' throat.

I scowled at it and drew my hand back. Immediately, the monster was ripped from the tree with a yelp, flying towards me. We collided in an instant – well, my fist collided with the things face, actually. The Greyback howled as it was thrown into the tree again, slamming hard enough to leave an indent in the trunk. Its clawed hands ripped at the bark, futilely trying to drag itself out.

I drew Confundis. It wanted out? I could help with that. With a thought I pulled the Greyback from the bark, ignoring its howls of protest as I shifted Confundis to his full length and lined up.

And then, right when the Greyback was a few feet away, I smacked it like it was a baseball with the flat of my blade. I ripped the gravity away from the larger Wolf at the same time for good measure, feeling a laugh bubble up as the Grimm soared through the forest at a ridiculous speed, howling all the while.

"Fuck you, too." I called out, slicing another Beowolf apart as it leapt towards my back.

Gravity was weird to use. When you think about gravity, you think about the constant, omniscient presence trying to pull you down. The thing is, using it as a weapon entails so much more. You can shift the direction that gravity pulls, making it so that everything is pulled sidewaysinstead of down _._ You could also make yourself the center of everything's gravitational orbit, having everything circle around yourself. Gravitational compression can compact things into the size of a _pea_. An object can be unbound by the rules of gravity, allowing it to float and more.

Of course, you can't do these on the large scale. Things in your vicinity will be drawn to you or affected by you, but that's it. Remnant's gravitational pull is separated from your own. Another thing is that you didn't get absolute control over gravity – If I could completely negate the pull of gravity on myself, I would be thrown into space at ludicrous speeds.

As it was, I was floating by changing my own perception of gravity – instead of being pulled to Remnant's surface, I was instead being pulled towards the sky; the planets own gravity pushing down on me with the same amount of pressure to keep me locked in place. I moved to the side by changing the direction gravity pulled me and the rest of what I could do I really couldn't explain.

The good old explanation of 'Soul Magic Bullshit' was my go to response, though.

Someone shouted from above, and, believing I heard my name in between some curses, I slapped most of the Beowolves I could see from the tree by increasing gravity's effects on them and floated up.

Someone put a round into me when I made it past the railing, and I shot the man a dirty look as I landed. My Aura had taken the blow like it was a pebble kicked up by a breeze, but it was still annoying. I glanced around, trying to figure out who would've shouted my name.

I found my answer at the same time I found Tristian, the old man and a few other people fighting a ways down the platform in front of one of the bridges. They were duking it out against some Greybacks, the large beasts towering over the, by comparison, small humans.

I could see Ren ducking in-between the large creatures, pelting them with two submachine guns with foot long blades attached. Tristian and another man with a claymore were facing another head on, this one appearing much larger than the rest. They had a woman with a large rifle taking shots at it from the back, staggering it every time it got to close to the two men.

The others were acting as distractions and taking potshots at the other nine, unable to really do much to the Grimm's armored hide. I couldn't find Nora though, and I wondered where the girl was when she answered me herself.

She came falling from the heavens, having jumped off of a tree branch high above. Her hammer was raised high above her head as she landed on the shoulders of a Greyback and smashed it right in the snout, laughing all the while. An explosion detonated against it from the hammer, snapping the Greybacks head down hard enough that I heard the snap from over fifty feet away. It dissolved into dust instantly, dropping the girl onto her feet on the platform.

"Good girl," I said, drawing some Aura into my legs and moving over to assist with the rest.

I could clean these guys out easily and move back to what I was doing moments before – ruthlessly crushing threats before they could attack the people from below, that is. The people above could handle themselves and would probably finish the Greybacks off after a couple of minutes, but I could end the fight in a couple of seconds and let them get back to supporting the others.

Confundis bisected a Greyback with only the slightest application of Aura to the blade. With a gesture I grasped another Greyback and threw it to the side, blowing apart a portion of the railing and throwing the howling beast out into the forest. The others turned to look at me instantly, Grimm and human alike. I could practically _feel_ the bloodlust from the Greybacks as they saw me, my large Aura probably looking like a five star meal.

"About damn time," Tristian said, using the distraction I'd unintentionally provided to slam his axe into the large Greybacks throat. He launched a grenade from the back to give it more momentum, slamming it into the large wolf's neck like a guillotine and tearing the Grimm's head off.

Everything else went wild for a few seconds after that. The remaining six all lunged in a millisecond – five at me and one at Tristian. I tried to snag them from the air with my control over gravity, only to fuck up and decrease the effect of gravity on them – which, you know, increased their velocity. By a lot.

My eyes went wide and I only had a moment to raise Confundis Mors as the newly created Greyback Missile Squadron slammed into me going the speed of _way-to-fast_. They all came from different directions and hit at the same time, making me feel like I'd just been compacted between five concrete walls.

It hurt like all fuck and I wasn't happy about that. I grabbed the gravity around us and increased it before they could fly off, taking the usual nine or so meters per second squared _whatever_ that was Remnants normal gravity and cranked it up a couple of notches.

The platform five feet around the dog-pile cracked under its own weight and collapsed, dragging myself and the Greybacks with it. I could distantly hear a few yelps as shrouds of black mist flew up from below us, the falling portion of platform obviously destroying a few more Wolves.

My body felt like _pain_ , gravity having increased my weight by several multitudes. My limbs and organs were screaming as I shifted the gravity again, only focusing on myself this time, trying to make it so that I was pushing against Remnant's to float.

 _Bad idea,_ I thought as my body buckled slightly, my internal organs being saved from rupturing by my Aura alone. My left arm wrapped around my stomach as I keeled over in mid-air, vomiting the contents of my stomach onto the forest floor however far below. I got to watch as the Greybacks slammed into the forest floor at an insane speed while in that position, dust blowing into the air from the crash site, normal and Grimm alike.

I gingerly pushed myself to float upwards, mentally feeling for the Gravity Dust in my system. The last couple of actions burned through it quickly, leaving me with ten or so minutes left on the crystal. Little jolts of gravitational control to throw things was all well and good, as was a continuous equalization of gravity around me, but multiplying the force of gravity by a factor of ten was a _bit_ much.

I ripped a Beowolf from a tree on my way back up, throwing it at another one a little ways away and watched as it slammed. I stared for a moment.

Fuck the Grimm, I finally decided. I collapsed Confundis Mors and re-attached it to my back. Taking a deep breath and letting it fill my lungs, my eyes fluttered closed and it seemed like silence enveloped the world.

And then I let the breath out and everything not rooted to the ground went soaring into the air. Stones, small bushes, dirt and more began to orbit my body. Grimm flew through the air, howling and screaming the whole while and joined my gravitational orbit. The loud shouts and yells from above informed me that some people had witnessed this and, when I glanced up, I saw a few curious people looking over the railing while others fought the Grimm that I couldn't grab.

Regardless, I focused back on what I was doing. The Dust in my system was burning fast, my Aura burning it rapidly to fuel my actions. Hundreds of Grimm were around me, a massive cloud of black, white and red. Potentially even thousands of them were being strung along, unable to fight against the pull.

I didn't care. With a thought, Grimm were slammed into the trees, into the ground and were even thrown out of my orbit, sent careening into the wood to meet their demise. I curved furrows into the earth with their carcasses, gauged chunks out of trees with their hide and slammed them against one another in brutal collisions.

Every action caused another dead Grimm and a lot of collateral damage. The trees took a great deal of damage and the ground below looked like scorched earth. Clumps of dirt were either drawn into my orbit or strewn across the ground. Tree roots were exposed, shrubbery was demolished and trenches were formed.

I kept at it, shredding the Grimm apart in a giant hurricane of death and debris. Eventually, the Dust in my system was on the verge of completely burning off and everything was dead. I took a few moments to spectate the destruction I'd caused. Everything at the ground level was destroyed – it would take quite a bit of effort to make this pretty again. I just shrugged and began raising myself back up into the air.

I landed on the platform a couple of seconds later, subject to amazement and wonder. I ignored everyone's gazes and made my way to where Tristian was.

The man was leaning against the railing, looking out over the forest. He turned to nod at me when I walked up.

"Good show," He said, gazing at me with eyes alit by happiness. I smiled, though it felt weak.

"Thanks." I replied, looking around. A few pockets of Beowolves were being gunned down still, but there wasn't much left to fight. Most everything had been swept up in my hurricane of death. People were arranging together in small groups and setting off across the bridges, no doubt to check the houses. I turned my eyes back to Tristian and saw that a sharp glint that had appeared in his eyes.

"Something wrong?" He asked, looking at me worriedly.

"Nope," I lied through my teeth, smiling at him. There was something wrong, but it wasn't something he needed to worry about.

The simple fact was that I fucked up. I could've ended this fight sooner if I'd just lowered myself down and ripped everything to shreds, but I hadn't trusted myself to. And then, once I fucked up, I got angry and did it anyways, damn the consequences. Luckily I hadn't hurt anyone, but what if my control of gravity went far enough to reach this platform? What if I hadn't been as low as I was and injured or killed someone?

That's what was wrong with me. I made my decisions and they were pretty much all bad calls – hell, they were pretty stupid. My first call was the safe route, yeah, but I'd abandoned it the moment I got angry enough. My two options earlier had been 'long, drawn-out and safe' or 'quick, brutal and not so safe'. I'd done option one for a while, the better one, but lost my cool before skipping straight to option two.

Stupid. I'm just so fucking stupid.

I turned to Tristian.

"Casualties?" I asked, pushing those thoughts away, to which he grinned. I could still see the suspicion in his eyes, but I didn't care at the moment.

"None," He said, pointing towards the building. "A few wounded, but the worst someone's been hurt was having a deep laceration to the chest. The only other real worry is Marcus, one of the few with Aura, is suffering from Aura exhaustion and will be comatose for a few days." He finished and I nodded.

Aura exhaustion was a bitch to deal with. It didn't set in by using all of your Aura, it set in by using _more_ than you could, by reaching further and drawing out more of the energy of your soul than was available. The man wouldn't see the light of day for a little while.

"That's good." I said, pulling out the watch that Ozpin gave me. The time was a little after three, which left a few more hours till sunrise. "Think we'll be attacked again?"

He shook his head, and I saw how tired and weary he was. Staying awake through the night will do that to you.

"No, most likely not." He stated. "They haven't attacked us twice in one night yet, I doubt they'll do it now." I stared at him.

"Talking like that is what gets you attacked twice in one night." I pointed out, and he just waved it off, walking back towards a set of doors.

I shook my head and followed, except I didn't follow the man inside. I settled against the wall a few feet from the doors and started to think.

I'd messed up, that much I knew. I'd already berated myself for it, so no use beating a dead horse – I had better things to do than call myself an idiot.

If we weren't attacked, I could get some sleep and set out a lot sooner – as in, right as the sun rises sooner. I'd gotten an a few hours of sleep earlier, and hopefully I could nab another four and set out after seven. I'd be setting out to find Fenrir alone, where I'd hopefully decimate his pack and rip his head from his shoulders.

Fenrir needed to die tomorrow if I wanted to keep these people safe and I needed to be confident in my ability to end him. No ifs or buts about it. Now wasn't the time for fear; now wasn't the time to think on my failings, nor the time for second-guessing.

Now… Actually, now was the time for sleep. Fuck everything, I'll deal with it in the morning.

I let a little Aura out into the night to act as a warning system and slipped into unconsciousness.

…

AN: This chapter was difficult, as is (to me) glaringly obvious. Gravity is also difficult, seeing as I don't know if anything I said was wholly correct, and the same goes for Jaune trying to limit himself. It's difficult.

The next one will be better, I can promise that. There'll be less "I must protect these people!" and more "Can I destroy a mountain? Well, Ozpin didn't say that I _couldn't_ destroy a mountain… I'mma destroy a mountain." Hope you look forward to it.


	7. Dreaming of Disaster

AN: Did I say that this would be a big fighting chapter? Because I lied. I re-wrote this a few times – which sucked because it was completely different each time and the fight scene fully disappeared. This chapter and I did not get along. At all.

This chapter is short – as in, a little under 2,700 words short. Ending it on any other note seemed like it would detract from what I had written though, so I left it as is.

(In other words: It's been two weeks, here's a piece of shit. Next chapter we blow shit up.)

…

 _ **Chapter 7:  
Dreaming of Disaster**_

I woke lying on my back, eyes opening and briefly wondered why I could see the full moon far above my head. Shouldn't I be seeing the treetops?

And then my eyes opened – wait, _when_ did I close them? – and I found myself on my feet this time small, and scared _._ I was huddled in a corner in a dark room, staring at the flickering light coming through the door to the room. Sirens echoed through the walls, loud and piercing, droning through my skull and continuously repeating over and over and _over_ again.

I slid down the wall and curled myself into a ball, a small whimper rising from my throat. I could hear the crackle of flames as smoke slowly drifted through the cracks in the door, slowly filling my room with a grey haze that hurt my lungs. I coughed and pulled my nightshirt over my nose and mouth, dropping flat onto the floor like my parents had told me to do if I was ever in a fire.

The smoke began to thicken and I could feel the heat that radiated from the room beyond the door. Flames licked at the wood, slowly consuming it. I crawled towards the room's window, dragging myself to my feet and threw it open. My fingers dug at the screen – it wasn't able to open – and tried to rip a hole into it. But my hands were small and frail, my nails were short and I couldn't make an exit.

The sirens grew louder, my head began to pound and my left eye began to ache. I reeled back, gasping for breath and toppled over just as my door and part of the wall crumbled apart. The flames roared into the room and I _screamed_. The sirens became so loud I couldn't hear anything else – the beat of my heart, the crackling of flame or the crumbling of wood.

Something walked through the door and my heart leapt into my throat.

Fenrir strutted into the room, his fur seemingly sucking in any and all smoke. They coalesced into his body, darkening his figure ever so slightly. His eyes burned like fire and his snout was twisted into some parody of a grin.

" _ **So, this is what you really are."**_ He growled out mockingly. _**"Just a scared little CHILD."**_

The last word caused me physical pain, a blood vessel in my left eyes bursting, but I didn't give a damn. A child? I wasn't a child. I was a seventeen year old Hunter for god's sake!

I scowled at him and grabbed Crocea Mors from my hip, a snarl forming on my lips as my – where the hell was Crocea? I glanced down at my hip and paled, seeing only the blue material of my sweatpants. My hand – my _body_ – was so _small._ I was the size of an ant and Fenrir was the size of a goliath.

Didn't matter. I reached for my back searchingly and came up empty, Confundis and Contra were nowhere to be found. I had no weapons but my fists – _my goddamn tiny fucking fists._

The sirens song echoed louder and I took a step back and hit the wall, grimacing as Fenrir's eyes lit up in glee. Tears leaked from my eyes without my permission and they wouldn't stop.

The great wolf stalked forwards and my head began to pound harder and harder, feeling like someone was hammering away at it.

" _ **Now you see? You are nothing. NOTHING compared to me."**_ He snarled out, all signs of happiness gone and replaced only with anger. I pushed myself against the wall as he lunged –

The sirens quieted in an instant and I twisted to the side, Crocea Mors was suddenly in my hand and I wasn't a _fucking child._ But then someone was screaming, my head felt like someone had driven a wedge into it and everything shifted sideways and then _down._

I hit the ground hard. My headache slowly lessened and I was staring at the moon again.

Dreamland. Fuck, I should've seen this coming. Fenrir had slipped straight past my guard as I relived my worst memory and was probably trying to make me mentally challenged for all I know.

I drug myself to my knees, glancing around. There wasn't a single thing to be seen. I was standing on a barren plane, nothing but the soil and grass beneath my feet. The moon was shining brightly, bathing the world below in a brilliant silver light.

I grimaced and stiffened as a horrible stench hit my nose. I raised Crocea and turned slowly, knowing I would regret what I was about to see but unable to turn the opposite way.

I was standing before a pair of wrought-iron gates, a double crescent moon emblem engraved into them. Standing before me was the burning wreckage of what used to be a large home. I could see the flames roaring from the rubble, pillars of fire lighting the night and heating the air. I could feel the heat from here, even standing over a hundred feet away.

The Arc household was burning and I couldn't give less of a damn. My eyes were focused on the front lawn – focused on the horror that was happening there.

There my mother stood, blond hair and green eyes and utterly beautiful. Soot covered her body and deep lacerations were carved into her skin and she still managed to look breathtaking. She was barely standing, slouched over and glaring defiantly at the beast in front of her.

Because she stood before Fenrir, stood before the Legendary Grimm and stood between him and his prey.

I knew this scene. Goddamnit did I know this scene.

Standing behind my mother – my mother who didn't have any _energy_ , any _Aura_ , any way to _defend herself besides her fists_ stood the small, whimpering ten year old Jaune Arc.

My past self was hugging himself and crying, wishing for his dad to come and save himself and his momma, wishing for some hero to come and save the day.

With a roar I smashed open the gates, taking off at top speed, trying to stop Fenrir from cutting my mother down before me _again._

Of course I was too late. The hero's never on time – _never._ Fenrir had torn her apart, bisected her at the waist before I could even make it two steps forwards. He murdered Gwenevere Arc right in front of her very own child.

The scene shifted again and my feet flew out from beneath me. I collapsed onto the ground and twisted myself, trying to find the motherfucker that was causing this –

And then my arm flared in _pain_. I could feel Crocea slip through my fingers as the limb sent agony up my nerve endings.

The siren was back as I glanced at my arm – or, at least, where my arm had been. The limb was now laying on the ground, skin and bone diced into tiny bits and blood was everywhere. My blade was nowhere to be seen _and the siren grew louder AGAIN._

I tried to push myself up with my other arm and realized that the limb wasn't responding. A glance showed that it was burnt to a crisp, small ribbons of flesh cooked like bacon and hanging from it onto the ground, lying in a position that _wasn't connected to my body._

A glance informed me that my legs were torn off as well. Diced up like tomatoes when you consider how saturated in blood they were.

Above me stood Fenrir, a smirk on his snout as he gazed down upon my torn apart body.

" _ **A child,"**_ He said again. _**"Small. Hopeless. Defenseless. USELESS."**_

He raised a clawed hand far above my body and pushed down, sinking the blade like tips straight through my chest and into the dirt beneath. Blood came from my lips and wounds freely – whatever blood I had left at any rate. I choked and spluttered in the dirt, waving around whatever stumps I had left of my limbs.

" _ **WHERE IS YOUR DEFIANCE NOW?!"**_ He roared in my face, suddenly enraged. _**"WHERE IS IT WHEN YOU NEED IT MOST?! WHERE IS THE THING THAT MAKES EVEN**_ **GODS** _ **TREMBLE!?"**_

He quieted suddenly, gazing upon me with eyes filled only with rage.

" _ **It has abandoned you."**_ He spoke again, softly. _**"It has abandoned you and you. Will. DIE."**_

His maw opened, snapping forwards and I could only close my eyes.

I could hear the tearing of flesh, the breaking of cartilage and bone, but one sound was conspicuity absent. I couldn't hear the _siren_.

My eyes opened and I was so confused when I noticed that I was standing off to the side looking at _myself_ – it was as if I had been thrown from the car and someone else took over the steering wheel. My clothes had changed, black pants and a black and gold jacket being the most noticeable things about Other Me.

His eyes were locked upon the wolf. Fenrir stood hunched over, gazing at the ground, mouth frothing in his rage.

" _You asked where his Defiance was_?" My counterpart asked quietly in a voice that was mine but also _wasn't._ I – other me, this is confusing – smirked when the beasts head slowly moved up and Aura suddenly exerted itself upon the landscape, sending the world spinning again. This time, though, I and my opposite stayed on our feet as Fenrir was thrown to the ground.

We stood again in an empty plain, nothing but the earth beneath our feet. The house was gone. My mother's cooling corpse was gone and so was anything else – all there was were two look-alikes and a snarling wolf under the light of the full moon.

" _Here I am_." My counterpart said, gesturing towards himself. Fenrir snarled savagely, leaping to his feet and crossing the distance between him and my twin in an instant. His jaws snapped shut where my opposite's head was and I smiled from where I stood as Other Me appeared right where Fenrir had previously been.

" _Tiamat got us at a bad time,"_ My clone said. Us? That explained everything and nothing, thank you. _"For her, that is. We were relieving something nice and it was kinda hard really use that against us. You, though? Good time for you. The dream wasn't particularly nice and you were able to just ride it to your endgame. That bite against our head back there wouldn't have been pretty, would it_?"

Fenrir didn't respond, instead choosing to start circling the other guy, prowling around him like he was weakened prey. The wolf didn't respond and I felt my lips twitch ever so slightly; silence is an answer all by itself.

The smirk fell from my lips as the other guy's eyes narrowed into a glare that was aimed at the wolf. I was suddenly angry – beyond angry actually. Beyond it, beyond furious and beyond enraged. I let out a snarl at the same time that my counterpart did and Fenrir jolted in shock, his eyes shooting towards my location before moving between me and myself before suddenly roving back to I. A cold, simpering kind of anger brewed in my gut and made the next words I said come out chilled and promising agony.

"I'm going to tear you apart." I whispered out, my voice raw. I dodged away as Fenrir ignored Other Me and dove in an attempt to rip out my throat. I smacked a claw aside and slipped below him, turning to watch as he landed on the ground a few feet away. "I'm going to rip out whatever you have for lungs and let you choke to death with all of your limbs shoved up your ass."

He dug himself out, fur beginning to spark with embers as smoke drifted from his form. The moon high overhead coalesced into a beam of silver, shining upon his features and making him look even more animalistic and brutal than he did before.

I didn't know what was happening – but when did I ever, really? In most situations I flew by the seat of my pants and hoped that I didn't get myself killed along the way. And what Fenrir was currently trying to do? I didn't know what that was either; but I could guess, and I wasn't having any of it.

"Now," I began, just as his maw opened and he spit out a torrent of silver and blue flames at me. Aura surged forth, shimmering into the night air and flying forth like a great wall. My counterpart – my twin, my other half, whatever the hell this other existence was – was suddenly standing right beside me, his face a mask of fury and hatred.

" _Get the fuck out of our_ _ **soul!**_ _"_ He shouted, his arm being thrust forwards as a bright wave of golden Aura merged with my own – reinforcing it, strengthening it and giving it more density.

The night faded, the world shifted sideways, and as my eyes opened into the light of the sun I heard Fenrir roar in agony and the voice that sounded far too much like my own laugh.

…

The first thing that I noticed when I woke up was that it was a little past sunrise.

The second thing I noticed was that the dream I had was slipping away, leaving me with only vague images. I could only recall two things about it – it involved my mother and I had a desire to punch something tall and furry in the jaw.

The third thing I noticed was the bucket of water that was about to be splashed into my face.

I only had enough time to swear before my entire head and upper torso was completely and utterly drenched. The water – absolutely fucking freezing by the way – wiped away any last dregs of sleep in my system and I completely lost hold of my dream, allowing it to fully slip away. I spluttered and coughed, water dripping from my hair and onto my soaking wet clothing. I wiped it away from my eyes as I got my coughing under control and glared at the girl before me.

Nora Valkyrie just smiled brightly at me, bucket dangling from her hand and possessing far too much energy.

"Why?" I croaked out, throat sore from coughing and rough from sleep.

Her smile seemingly got brighter somehow.

"Ren said something about you wanting to be up at sunrise, but he's not very good at waking up. Sooooo he asked me to make sure that you were awake! And because we're bestest friends, I agreed to wake you up!"

I may have understood all of that but it was far too filled with Nora's excitement and my own thoughts of maiming Lie Ren. That asshole.

I stared at her blankly for a moment, trying to figure out what I could possibly say to that. In the end, I went with something simple.

"Thank you?"

"You're welcome!" She chirped and I felt the brief stirring of panic flitter across my mind as she stared at me. I felt like a small caged animal being placed in front of a lion and I _really_ had no idea what to do.

"Soooo," She began and all thoughts I had on how to escape suddenly managed to do just that. "What's it like 'bein a Hunter? Do you get to blow stuff up whenever you want? Ohh, do you get to save Princesses!? Or battle evil warlords?! Oh, oh! Do you kill Legendary Grimm!?"

I opened my mouth to give some kind of response, maybe answer her last question with a _"Yes, I do kill Legendary Grimm; that's what I'm here for"_ before she verbally ran me over again.

"Do you like pancakes? I _loooove_ pancakes. Let's go get pancakes!"

And then she slung me over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes and started running off, leaving me with the distinct feeling that this was normal.

That thought scared me more than it should have.

…

AN: Nora is difficult to write and I'll probably be avoiding her character. Also wasn't happy with this chapter, but eh; whatever.

Addendum: I need better chapter names.


	8. Mountain Mayhem

AN: I choked a couple of times while writing this chapter. Not physically choking, mind you, but more "What the hell did I just write and did it make any fucking sense?" choking. You can blame my extreme lack of self confidence in myself and everything I do. Eventually I just decided to keep going so I could finally fucking _publish it._ God I hope the next chapter is easier than this one.

Also, _holy fuck do I need better chapter names._ If you feel like you can think of better ones, _please_ tell me them. By Jones, _please._

Chapter word count: 4,200 words. AN word count: Too much.

…

 _ **Chapter 8:  
Mountain Mayhem**_

My breath came in sharp rasps as I pulled myself over the edge. I flopped onto the hard ground, chest rising and falling as I stared at the overcast sky above. The cool breeze that was blowing tried its hardest to cool me down, but I was covered in sweat and grime and the wind was fighting a losing fight. I could see storm clouds rolling in the distance and traveling in this direction.

Fuck, I hate climbing. I rolled over slightly and glanced over the edge, staring at the massive drop to the ground below. Why the hell would anything actually want to hide out this far up?

Actually, the sheer climb was probably the reason someone would hide this far up. Who the hell would want to climb up to get you? I most certainly wouldn't – the fact that I did notwithstanding. So, it was probably a pretty sound tactic that I don't think I would ever use because it would take too much effort.

Seriously, a thousand feet up is too damned much in my opinion. There better be something worth my time here or I was going to punch Tristian in the face – my elder by many years he may be, but I'm an upset teenager. I'm entitled to particular things.

… Temper tantrums. I'm entitled to temper tantrums. Not that I'm proud about it, but hey; _teenager._ It's one of those things that comes with the territory.

I huffed and drew myself to my feet, feeling like shit during the entire process. I hadn't been able to shower earlier and with all the new sweat and grime that I was coated in the old sweat and grime got even more horrifying to move in.

Getting away from Nora had been more difficult than it should have been. The girl had the strength of a Goliath and the attention span of a goldfish. She'd drug me along with her until we got to the small little apartment like building that she and Ren lived in – then she'd clung onto me and practically asked for my life story.

In the end I would up literally throwing Ren at her and running away.

No. No, I am not ashamed to admit that. I'm rather proud, actually. I heard Ren mutter words of grudging approval as he flew through the air at her.

I finally gathered myself and drew Crocea.

" _You alright Lad?"_ The blade whispered into my thoughts and I cringed. Of course I couldn't keep anything from the blade – it was privy to my emotions and some of my thoughts that slipped through the surface. I could only contact him when I held him, but he had free rein to wander through my mind at all times.

"Just fine Crocea." I murmured, turning to look at the large, cavernous opening that was set into the mountainside before me. It was large – as in, 'Holy shit that's fuckhuge' large. I could probably fit a city block into the opening with a bit of room to spare.

" _Lies. You are repressing your emotions again."_ Crocea said in a tone that sounded like the striking of blades. I flinched at the tone and responded instantly.

"I am _not_ repressing my emotions." I shot back quickly and harshly, keeping my gaze on the cavern mouth. Stalactites and stalagmites were taking up a large portion of the entrance, making it so that the only ways into it were by going between the labyrinth of stone.

" _Yes,"_ Crocea ground out and I flinched again as the sound of steel sharpening rung loudly in my head. _"You are. I have been with you long enough. It is simple for me to know when you are keeping yourself from thinking about such things. You go off on tangents and think of anything under Sol that can keep you distracted. It isn't healthy."_

My jaw clenched together at his words. I did _not_ do that.

" _If you do not,"_ The blade said, voice of a hammer pounding harshly on metal. _"Then why do your thoughts currently consist of nonsense?"_

My hand jolted from the blade's handle as I forcefully stopped the mellow sound of the violin that was playing on repeat in my head. Crocea was _wrong,_ and I was going to show him that. My breathing evened out as I tried to calm my thoughts – tried to make them nothing, empty. Focused.

I probably don't need to say that I failed. The moment the music went away my emotions hit me – a tide of anger, of fear and hatred and more slamming into the bulwark that kept them from being expressed physically. My hands clenched as I shut my eyes tightly, trying to reign everything back under control.

Again; _trying._ Crocea was right. He almost always was. He was old, he was wise and I _knew_ that I kept my feelings locked away – my mind would play music or jump around like a demented, hyperactive bunny in an attempt to keep myself distracted and unable to even have a fleeting thought of anything that could cause a breakdown. I kept all the distracting emotions locked away – all the emotions that could cause problems for me.

Attraction? Locked behind a gate. Fear? Usually trapped in a vault. Anger? Stuck on a loose chain.

The few moments where my barriers ever go down do I truly _feel._ I could feel the apprehension I held for the situation slide through my thoughts like a scalpel. My fear of facing off against Fenrir hit like a truck going sixty and my fear of failing was even worse. My anger at the beast and myself seemed to have a life all of its own, straining the chain that held it back to its breaking point.

And after the first few came the ones that were locked further back. Sadness drew itself out from the darkest corner of my mind and slinked its way into my thoughts, slowly morphing into heavy depression that slid past my barriers. The agony of losing family and never _truly grieving_ came flooding up and struck like blades, piercing my thoughts so harshly that I almost felt physical pain. The stress and emotions I'd been bottling up for the past few years hit me all at once.

A few tears leaked through my eyes before I forcefully wrenched everything back. I stuffed it behind the barriers and thought of the loudest, heaviest music that I knew off and grasped hold of any thought that came through in an effort to drag my thought process away from everything else.

It didn't work. The emotions swept past my barriers again like a tidal wave breaking apart a sand castle. More tears made their way down my face and I wasn't quite sure if they were from sadness or anger or fear or anxiety.

In the end, I just didn't know _what_ to feel. I never really did. I bottled everything up so badly that when it came out it was more like an explosion than anything else – an explosion that would probably leave me with a hole in my head if I didn't push it back again.

So, I used the last option available to me. The one I usually used.

I Defied. I Defied my emotions. Defied my fear and anger and my sadness and my hate. Defied everything that was threatening to push me over the edge and cut them short, dulling their edge and shoved them further back than before. I threw them down a long dark hallway and shut and locked the door. I shored up my defenses; I took my little sandcastle and rebuilt it out of sandstone and clay, built little walls around it in a futile attempt to hold back the tide.

It wouldn't remain that way for long. Eventually the walls would crumble, the stone would weaken and the tide would come back with renewed strength and destroy that little sandcastle once again.

But… for now it was enough. I swiped at my face and wiped away the tears that remained. I took a deep, raspy breath and held it for a few moments before releasing it. The emotions may be gone, locked away, but the aftereffects still remained.

My hands shook as I picked Crocea up from where he lie upon the ground.

"I apologize." I said, a slight quiver in my voice. "I was wrong. Again. I wanted to deny it – I always want to deny it. I'm just a little –" I took a shuddering breath and when my voice next came out it was in a whisper. "… Sorry."

" _It is fine."_ The blade said softly _. "It is not healthy, but you have no other way of coping. I recommend you get help, though."_

I grinned at that – a shaky grin, doubtlessly, but a grin nonetheless. I most certainly needed to see about getting help.

I probably wasn't going to, though. I like to think that I know myself well enough to know that I'll probably die first – either by going out with a bang during a fight or going out with the kind of bang that came from suicide.

"Ready?" I asked, moving forwards, mind forcefully calmed for the time being.

" _As always."_

We plunged into the darkness.

…

For the first few minutes I felt like an idiot. The darkness was all encompassing, eating any and all natural light that shone in from the outside.

Because of that I continuously found myself with odd footing and, on the rare occasion, walked straight into something that I just flat out couldn't see.

I almost found myself having a conniption. I finally gave up on any pretense of sneaking through the area and flooded Crocea with some Aura, causing the blade to light up like a torch in the darkness. If there was anything in here it would probably see me coming from a mile away.

Hell, that might even be literal considering how large this thing was. I rapped Crocea against stone a little while ago and didn't hear the first echo until six seconds later. The last one came a bit after thirteen.

In other words; the cavern was _big._ The ceiling overhead was probably high enough for a Goliath to fit in here – though first it would need to figure out how to get up here.

I shook the thought from my head and moved on, swinging around a stalagmite and moving on in a random direction. This place was a natural maze – the stalactites and 'mites were, for the most part, connected together and created large pillars that blocked my sight. The wind was circling through the place, the air cool and carrying the faintest smell of fresh rain. The storm was obviously getting close.

I wandered for a few more minutes and finally decided that it would be pointless to continue. I rested my back on one of the natural pillars and heaved sigh. It would be an amazingly large waste of time if I continued doing this.

So, with slight reluctance, my hand unzipped one of the pouches at my side and pulled out a small crystal of silvery green Dust. I gazed at the small crystal for a few moments – just moved it around on my palm and observing the light of my Aura being reflected off of it.

And then I smashed it into my chest and was quickly acquainted with pain.

The feeling of razorblades swept across my entire body; my muscles felt like they were being sliced into fine bits, my blood vessels screamed like someone had given each one a million papercuts and my bones felt like they were being sliced down to the marrow in far too many places to count. I felt the phantom pains of my organs being shredded ribbons – heart, liver, lungs, and more.

My soul cried and my mind begged as they felt the razor winds rip through them. My Aura shimmered to the surface, silvery-green and floating off of me like a gentle breeze –

And then it ended as abruptly as it began. The pain fizzled from my mind like I'd never experienced it – like I hadn't just felt my entire being be shredded apart into individual atoms.

I finally came back to myself and huffed out a breath.

Goddamn do I hate Wind Dust. The air currents that I could currently control kicked up around me, dragging my hair and clothing up and making them flutter.

Wind Dust was an extremely valuable tool, yeah, but using it in this manner was ridiculous. Gravity Dust pretty much makes you feel like you're being compressed into something like a gravitational singularity. Fire Dust makes you feel like you're being burned to cinders – and then those cinders are burnt to ash that is then burnt into _even more_ ash, but Wind Dust?

Wind Dust usually feels like you're being shredded into individual atoms which are then sliced into _nothing._ Sometimes this is followed with a feeling of being reduced to _even more nothing_ if the Dust is strong enough.

In summary: It fucking sucks.

I let out a harsh breath as I used the currents to caress my own skin, if only to give me something to focus on rather than the rapidly retreating feeling of pain. Finally, after a few more seconds, the pain fully disappeared from my mind and I let out a sigh of relief.

Again: Wind Dust fucking _sucks._

I let out another breath and mentally reached out for the air currents around me and began to… well, it get a feel for them, I guess. See, trying to control wind is pretty difficult – ridiculously so, actually, because you _can't_ control it. You can give it some nudges and pull on it a bit, maybe even ask it to help you, but Wind just isn't an element that can normally be controlled. I mean, if you have a strong enough will you can, theoretically, beat it down and subjugate it, but there's no real reason to.

The wind doesn't like to be controlled, yes, but it'll still listen to suggestions. If you, say, ask it to move in a certain location, or help lift yourself into the air, it'll generally do so. Using the Dust Crystal for the element might be an utter bitch, but the element itself is surprisingly… nice, I guess is the word.

I closed my eyes and mentally connected myself to the air currents – a process which allowed me to feel everything. I mean that literally; by connecting myself to the wind I was able to sense anything that was touched by even the slightest breeze. And on a day like today, where there was a nice, strong breeze out and a storm brewing?

There was a lot of air to get a feel for. My conscious mind slipped from my body and joined with the air flow – and for a brief moment, _I_ was the air and _I_ was the wind. I spanned continents and oceans – a constant presence that shaped the world. I gave respite on hot sunny days and I gave destruction in the form of natural disasters. I shaped the land with my currents – eroding and weathering away at stone and other materials. I gave life by transporting seeds across great distances and helped insects to pollinate fauna.

And, on a much smaller but no less awe-inspiring scale, I was everywhere in the cave system. I could probably navigate the labyrinth with my eyes closed and have perfect footing – going only off of the air currents that were flowing over the stone.

And I used that to scrounge the cavern for the Beowolves.

It didn't take long. I opened my eyes again and spun around, taking off as fast as I could, moving between the pillars with the kind of grace that came from long practice – or, in this case, from knowing exactly where everything was and the best place to place my foot.

I moved forwards for a few minutes before gradually slowing down. My brow furrowed as I channeled some of the Dust that flowed through my blood asked it to form a small platform beneath my feet, allowing me to climb onto it and ascend into the air. I continued to do so, raising myself into the air higher and higher with each step I took until I finally walked around one last pillar and found myself staring into the 'Wolves den.

I was standing thirty or so feet in the air and looking down on a goddamn _army_ of Beowolves. Hundreds, maybe even _thousands_ of the fuckers were sprawled out beneath me, silent as death. Most were sleeping, other pawing around so quietly that I could barely even hear a thing, even when using the wind as my ears. I'd already sheathed Crocea earlier, having no reason to use the blade as a light source when the wind was a much better thing to use.

Fenrir wasn't here – if he was, I would have felt him. Legendary Grimm are easy to spot; they mark the land with their very presence. They carried such levels of negative emotion that you can physically _feel_ if one is near.

So, Fenrir wasn't near. That was bad – but it was also good. That meant that I could destroy these monsters with only the slightest chance of actually getting caught up in a fight.

I wasn't about to give them the choice of trying to fight me, obviously, which meant that I had to take them out at the same time.

Luckily, I came prepared. I reached into my pouch once again and withdrew a large glass bottle that was filled with multiple colors of Dust – and by large, I mean Mason Jar sized.

Hunters used Dust in many different ways – usually to complement their fighting style. Maybe they just used Fire Dust as a way to create, well, fire when they were out on long missions in the Wilds. Maybe they had Earth Dust imbued into their clothing to make it stronger and more resilient, or a canteen that had Ice Dust mixed with the metal during the manufacturing process to keep drinks cold.

In any case, not many people actually used it entirely for combat purposes. Maybe they'll use it to light their blade on fire, or maybe they'll control it to make a wall out of stone – but they never _really_ used it, not as well as they could.

Ozpin once told me that we, as a people, used to use Dust for level mountains and scorch the earth itself. That we could create tornadoes, control monsoons and create earthquakes.

Over time, though, as we walled ourselves into our newly formed kingdoms and our settlements, as we pushed the Grimm back ever so much and carved a place for ourselves on the planet, we forgot the ways we once used it.

Some didn't forget, though. They passed the knowledge to their descendants and those descendants passed it down further.

Glynda was once such person who knew how to use Dust correctly. And, because of that, I did as well. The vial in my hands, though?

A grin started to form on my lips.

It was an example of how you use Dust _incorrectly_. I almost laughed – I only managed to keep it to myself because it would alert the Beowolves to their imminent demise.

Ten different kinds of Dust all packed and mixed inside of a bottle. A bottle that was completely airtight.

A bottle that was mostly made of Aura infused glass, barely being held back from igniting the Dust beneath.

A bottle that would shatter if enough force was applied to it. And by enough force, I obviously mean that it could fall twenty feet and explode.

I'd made it right after I got away from Nora this morning. It was a quick job – some of the calculations were off, some more Dust was added than it should be and it might make a really big boom or a really, _really_ big boom.

Considering the first time I used one of these it left a crater four hundred feet wide and sixty deep…

Yeah. I stared at it for a moment, wondering if I _really_ should use it and risk bringing the mountain down.

And then I shrugged my shoulder and chucked it straight up into the air. There, no time to second guess it.

Grabbing ahold of the wind I had myself pulled backwards towards the nearest exit, trying my damnedest to get the fuck out of dodge as fast as humanly possible. I didn't want to be inside of this place when that vial hit the ground.

I was nowhere near the exit when it exploded.

I _felt_ it before I heard it – a dull thud that managed to rattle my bones as I flew. What I heard were the sounds of flames roaring, of ice shattering, of wind blowing and lighting erupting. The entire cavern, hell, the entire _mountain_ seemed to shake. The stone cracked and crumbled apart, raining down from the ceiling and falling from the walls.

I slammed into – and through – a pillar as the wind was forcefully ejected from the cavern. And then I crashed through another one, and then another, and another after that. The stone floor beneath me cracked and splintered, shattering and joining with the gale. I could hear the cavern behind me collapsing upon itself, breaking and crumbling apart because of the detonation.

Flames roared, following its fuel source out of the cave. A grimace formed on my face as I ripped the top off of a stalagmite with my body and caught a glimpse of the encroaching flames – flames that were of so many different elements and shades of color to even be considered possible.

But it was all made out of Dust, and Dust doesn't give a fuck about things such as impossible and possible.

I covered my face with my arms as the firestorm slammed into me like a physical entity – speeding up my exit so much that I turned anything I slammed into to powder. I could feel my Aura draining away with each hit and each lick of flame that attempted to scorch my person – felt the physical shell that covered my person slowly chipping and withering away.

It wasn't low yet – probably wasn't even past the eighty percent mark, to be honest – but if I had to take much more of this and it would drop lower than I would be comfortable with.

And then I slammed into a wall – _though the wall –_ and was flying into open air, able to see the sky and the storm clouds that hovered there. Could feel the moisture that was in the air on my scorching skin.

I could see the flames rip their way through the hole that I'd just made in the mountain – could see them shoot out of any other location around it as well, blasting out in such jets that it was more like a flamethrower than anything. I could see dozens, maybe even hundreds of flame trails blast their way through the sky – from the largest of caverns to the smallest of cracks, the flames burned.

I caught myself on the air, watching as the mountain _shifted_. It broke apart and began to crumble, causing landslides and shooting debris into the air. The mountain top caved in, dropping down into the destroyed cavern below – and then that collapsed again onto itself before collapsing _again_ , most likely falling into more and more cave systems embedded throughout it. Dust and debris were billowing out from the wreckage, making the very air a hazard to breath.

I asked and the wind pulled me back while simultaneously blew forwards, shooting the dust filled air away from the valley. I kept up the gale for a few minutes, watching as the mountain continued to rumble and break upon itself before it finally began settling, leaving behind a large expanse of loose rock and dirt. The Wind Dust in my system was burning itself out and I had to lower myself to the ground far below.

I landed and felt a tremor run through the ground from a minor earthquake and continued to feel the aftershocks for some time.

In front of me, where there used to be a mountain, there was now a glorified molehill.

I… _really_ shouldn't have used that Dust. What would I have done if it had gone off on my person?

Well, I probably would have done my damnedest to Defy, but...

I fell flat on my ass as the level of what I just did hit me.

I just destroyed a fucking _mountain._ I could still feel the aftershocks from the damn thing – aftershocks that I was pretty sure were being felt in _Vale._ The earthquakes probably weren't stronger than magnitude fours or fives, but _still._

 _Mountain._ I destroyed a _fucking_. _Mountain._

Jesus Christ Glynda was going to have my ass when I got back to Beacon.

…

AN: Combat? Not really. Some emotional stuff, more exposition, and then the destruction of an _entire mountain?_

Yes. As you can probably see, Dust in this story is going to be something that Jaune actively relies on. As such, it's going to be _deadly._ A Fire Dust crystal may make a large fireball in cannon, but it'll erupt into a goddamn inferno the size of a city block here. So, ten different types of powdered Dust – any of which are highly volatile _by themselves_ – mixed into a jar and going off _all at the same time?_

… Things go boom. _Really badly._

The emotional scene near the beginning is there because… Well, Jaune hasn't really been showing his emotions much. A Hunter isn't really supposed to let negative emotions affect them – it attracts Grimm. Jaune doesn't have much control over his emotions, so he naturally shuts them out and keeps his mind busy on anything _but_ those emotions.

He naturally _Defies_ them; and, because of that, they build up. They get stronger and harder to push back every time they come up. The only reason he used the Dust here was because some of his emotions were still dulled – namely, his fear and apprehension. If either had been working correctly, he wouldn't have done what he did because he wouldn't want to deal with the consequences.

Next chapter will consist of… something. I'm done promising things. I've learned that I'm a lying liar who lies, has lied and won't stop lying. Hope for Fenrir everyone.

Sorry for the long AN – might change this story to an M rating as well. Leave thoughts in Reviews, please.


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